Village Deliberative Democracy and Village Governance in China

Village democracy in China has expanded from village elections to village deliberation. Using survey results, this chapter assesses the extent to which China has established village deliberative democracy by examining the frequency of village meetings, the disclosure of village affairs, public discussion and reasoning and the actual impact on village decisions and policies. This is combined with case studies that examine how villages can use simplified versions of Deliberative Polling to solve a particular social problem and that demonstrate how deliberative forums can become a new mechanism of deliberative governance. The chapter also examines the conditions that help or hinder the development of village deliberation and the limitations of local deliberative democracy.