Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T09:55:26.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resource Conflict Resolution in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2017

Jing Vivian Zhan Open the ORCID record for Jing Vivian Zhan [Opens in a new window]  and
Zeng Ming
Jing Vivian Zhan*
Affiliation:
The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Zeng Ming
Affiliation:
Nanchang University.
*
Email: [email protected] (corresponding author).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mineral resource extraction has frequently caused social tensions in China. This research examines the reactive and pre-emptive strategies used by the Chinese state to cope with resource conflicts. Based on extensive fieldwork in multiple mining areas, we find that the Chinese local state actively mediates between the mining sector and local citizens, and skilfully suppresses collective protests. More importantly, it pre-emptively intervenes in dispute-prone processes and redistributes resource wealth to create vested interests and mitigate popular grievances. We argue that the active state intervention in resource conflicts in China is driven by the party-state's tight control of local officials, which prevents local capture by resource interests, and enabled by the party-state's deep reach into society, which allows grassroots governments to negotiate between conflicting interests and mobilize resources towards conflict resolution.

摘要

矿产资源开发在中国导致了频繁的社会冲突。本研究考察中国政府应对资源冲突的回应性及预防性策略。通过在中国多个矿区的深度调研, 我们发现, 中国地方政府会积极调解矿企与当地群众之间的矛盾并巧妙地压制集体抗议以解决资源冲突。此外, 地方政府更会采取预防性措施, 主动干预矿企与民众之间的交易以防纠纷的产生, 并且通过分享资源财富以赢得民心和化解民怨。我们认为, 中国地方政府之所以会积极干预资源冲突, 其动力和能力缺一不可。一方面, 中共政权对于地方官员的严格控制一定程度上遏制了地方政府与矿企的官商勾结, 自上而下的维稳压力是地方政府解决资源冲突的根本动力。另一方面, 中共党国体制对中国社会的深入掌控则赋予了基层政府在不同利益群体之间斡旋和调配资源以解决冲突的能力。

Keywords

Chinaconflict resolution and preventionmediationmineral resourcesredistribution中国冲突化解与预防调解矿产资源再分配
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 230 , June 2017 , pp. 489 - 511
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benney, Jonathan. 2016. “ Weiwen at the grassroots: China's stability maintenance apparatus as a means of conflict resolution.” Journal of Contemporary China 25(99), 389–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berntein, Thomas P., and Lü, Xiaobo. 2003. Taxation without Representation in Contemporary Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Yongshun. 2008a. “Local governments and the suppression of popular resistance in China.” The China Quarterly 193, 24–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Yongshun. 2008b. “Power structure and regime resilience: contentious politics in China.” British Journal of Political Science 38(3), 411–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Yongshun. 2010. Collective Resistance in China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Chan, Anita. 2011. “Strikes in China's export industries in comparative perspective.” The China Journal 63, 24–51.Google Scholar
Chen, Feng. 2003. “Industrial restructuring and workers’ resistance in China.” Modern China 29(2), 237–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng. 2008. “Worker leaders and framing factory-based resistance.” In O'Brien, Kevin J. (ed.), Popular Protest in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 88–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng, and Kang, Yi. 2016. “Disorganized popular contention and local institutional building in China: a case study in Guangdong.” Journal of Contemporary China 25(100), 596–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Feng, and Xu, Xin. 2012. “‘Active judiciary’: judicial dismantling of workers’ collective action in China.” The China Journal 67, 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Xi. 2012. Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Collier, Paul. 2003. “The market for civil war.” Foreign Policy 136, 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Paul, and Hoeffler, Anke. 1998. “On economic causes of civil war.” Oxford Economic Papers 50(4), 563–573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deng, Yanhua, and O'Brien, Kevin J.. 2013. “Relational repression in China: using social ties to demobilize protesters.” The China Quarterly 215, 533–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englebert, Pierre, and Ron, James. 2004. “Primary commodities and war: Congo–Brazzaville's ambivalent resource curse.” Comparative Politics 37(1), 61–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D., and Laitin, David. 2003. “Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war.” American Political Science Review 97(1), 75–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, Xuefeng, and Liu, Yue. 2010. “Jiceng zhili zhong de ‘buchushi luoji’” (“No accident logic” in grassroots governance). Xueshu yanjiu 6, 36.Google Scholar
Ho, Peter. 2003. “Contesting rural spaces: land disputes, customary tenure and the state.” In Perry, Elizabeth J. and Selden, Mark (eds.), Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. New York: Routledge, 96–116.Google Scholar
Hu, Jieren. 2011. “Grand mediation in China: mechanism and application.” Asian Survey 51(6), 1065–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Jingguo, and Tan, Jian. 2011. “Heise de caijue” (The dark extraction), Liaowang, 27 February, http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2011-02-27/144022022847.shtml. Accessed 10 January 2014.Google Scholar
Hu, Lianhe, and Hu, Angang. 2008. “Minzu wenti yingxiang shehui wending de jili fenxi” (Analysis of the impacts of ethnicity on social stability). Renwen zazhi 2, 164–174.Google Scholar
Jing, Jun. 2003. “Environmental protests in Rural China.” In Perry, Elizabeth J. and Selden, Mark (eds.), Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. New York: Routledge, 208–226.Google Scholar
Klare, Michael T. 2001. Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Lee, Ching Kwan. 2007. Against the Law: Labor Protests in China's Rustbelt and Sunbelt. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, Ching Kwan, and Zhang, Yonghong. 2013. “The power of instability: unraveling the microfoundations of bargained authoritarianism in China.” American Journal of Sociology 118(6), 1475–1508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Guoqiang. 2012. “Difang zhengfu weiwen jixiao de qianqi kaohe – yi T xian ‘maodun jiufen paicha tiaochu’ jizhi weili” (Assessment of local governments’ maintenance of stability at the initial stage: the case of T county). Jingji shehui tizhi bijiao 1, 122–131.Google Scholar
Liu, Zifu. 2009. Xin qunti shijian guan: Guizhou Weng'an xian 6.28 shijian de qishi (New Perspective on Collective Incidents: Lessons from the June 28 Incident in Guizhou Weng'an County). Beijing: Xinhua Press.Google Scholar
Lujala, Paivi. 2010. “The spoils of nature: armed civil conflict and rebel access to natural resources.” Journal of Peace Research 47(1), 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin J. 2008. Popular Protest in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Kevin J., and Li, Lianjiang. 2006. Rightful Resistance in Rural China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oi, Jean C. 1992. “Fiscal reform and the economic foundation of local state corporatism.” World Politics 45, 99–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J., and Selden, Mark. 2003. Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Switzer, Jason. 2001. “Armed conflict and natural resources: the case of the minerals sector.” Minerals, Mining and Sustainable Development Project, International Institute for Environment and Development, London.Google Scholar
Wang, Yuhua. 2014. “Empowering the police: how the Chinese Communist Party manages its coercive leaders.” The China Quarterly 219, 625–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Yuhua, and Minzner, Carl. 2015. “The rise of the Chinese security state.” The China Quarterly 222, 339–359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wei, Yiping. 2008. “Weng'an shijian diaocha: jingfang yu heibang guanxi miqie cheng gongkai de mimi” (Investigation of the Weng'an incident: close ties between police and gangs are open secret), Sanlian shenghuo zhoukan, 10 July, http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2008-07-10/144915908486.shtml. Accessed 15 August 2014.Google Scholar
Wen, Tiejun, Lang, Xiaojuan and Zheng, Fengtian. 2011. “Zhongguo nongcun shehui wending zhuangkuang jiqi tezheng: jiyu 100 cun 1,765 hu de diaocha” (Social stability and characteristics of rural China: a survey study of 1,765 households in 100 villages). Guanli shijie 3, 66–67.Google Scholar
Xiao, Tangbiao. 2015. “Dangdai Zhongguo de weiwen zhengzhi: yange yu tedian” (Politics of stability maintenance in contemporary China: history and characteristics). Xuehai 1, 138–152.Google Scholar
Yan, Dingfei. 2014. “Shifang houyizheng” (In the aftermath of Shifang), Nanfang zhoumo, October, http://www.infzm.com/content/105194. Accessed 26 April 2016.Google Scholar
Yan, Xiaojun. 2016. “Patrolling harmony: pre-emptive authoritarianism and the preservation of stability in W county.” Journal of Contemporary China 25(99), 406–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Congming. 2013. “Qiantan xibu diqu kuangqun maodun de chengyin ji huajie” (Analysis of causes and resolutions of the conflicts between mining industries and citizens in western areas), Guizhou zhengxie bao, 4 July, A3, http://www.gzzxb.com/pages/Show.aspx?ID=A6BCBB6C-75A2-4A27-A4AD-5DA445DA7A5F. Accessed 14 August 2014.Google Scholar
Ying, Xing. 2001. Dahe yimin shangfang de gushi (The Story of Big River Migrants). Beijing: SDX Joint Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Yu, Jianrong. 2007. “Social conflict in rural China.” China Security 3(2), 2–17.Google Scholar
Yu, Jianrong. 2010. Kangzhengxing zhengzhi: Zhongguo zhengzhi shehuixue jiben wenti (Contentious Politics: A Fundamental Issue in Chinese Political and Social Studies). Beijing: People's Publishing House.Google Scholar
Zeng, Ming. 2011. “Wending yadao yiqie xia de xiangzhen zhengfu – Jiangxi sheng J zhen de jingyan” (Stability above everything – the experiences of J town in Jiangxi province). Wuhan University Journal 64(1), 76–83.Google Scholar
Zhan, Jing Vivian. 2017. “Do natural resources breed corruption? Evidence from China.” Environmental and Resource Economics 66(2), 237–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Kai, and Yan, Xiaojun. 2014. “The quest for stability: policing popular protest in the People's Republic of China.” Problems of Post-Communism 61(3), 3–17.Google Scholar
Zhou, Rui, and Xiao, Konghua. 2014. “Weixin huajie shekuang jiufen diaoyan baogao” (Report on resource-related conflict resolution in Weixin), Yunnan wang, 4 January, http://zhaotong.yunnan.cn/html/2014-01/02/content_3020359.htm. Accessed 14 August 2014.Google Scholar
Zhu, Hui. 2009. “Shenmu moshi: quanmin yibao mianfei dacan nengcheng duojiu” (Shenmu model: how long can the free lunch of universal medical insurance last?), 20 May, http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/b/20090520/20566252328.shtml. Accessed 10 March 2015.Google Scholar
Zhuang, Wenjia, and Chen, Feng. 2015. “‘Mediate first’: the revival of mediation in labour dispute resolution in China.” The China Quarterly 222, 380–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar