Patterns of rural collective action in contemporary China: An archetype analysis of rural construction land consolidation

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study is to identify and explain the underlying patterns for rural collective action based on the practices of rural construction land consolidation (RCLC) in contemporary China. To that end, an analytical framework is developed to decompose rural collective action into diagnostic attributes, design attributes and outcomes. Then, an archetype analysis is performed, and a total of eight patterns regarding the collective action for RCLC are extracted from 30 first-hand cases in eastern, central and western China. These patterns jointly demonstrate that the alignment between the diagnostic attributes of rural construction land and rural households and the design attributes of institutional mechanisms contributes to the collective action for RCLC. The research findings corroborate the classic theoretical propositions of rural collective action, including small group size, coercive power, exclusive incentives and unequal interest. More importantly, several distinctive implications are drawn: 1) the sizes, locations and quality of rural construction land raise governance demand or create favorable conditions for rural collective action; 2) despite the small group size, the government and enterprises, as external actors, still engage in RCLC motivated by their political and economic goals in the transitional context of China, and they contribute to divergent pathways to rural collective action; 3) self-governance mechanisms consisting of community control, decision-making and coordination differ to prevent opportunistic behavior, mitigate conflicts of interest and reach consensus, depending on group sizes, whether RCLC is implemented within a village group or an administrative village as well as the extent to which the social capital accumulates in a rural community; 4) given the small group size but the large area of rural construction land involved, government participation or the formal and institutionalized self-governance mechanisms with powerful rural leadership can overcome “the tragedy of the anticommons”. In general, this study provides new insights into land-related rural collective action and references for subsequent research on other types of rural collective action or in other transitional countries.