Accountability without Democracy. Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China

摘要

This book is a major contribution not only to Chinese political studies but also to comparative politics in general. Lily Tsai poses a straightforward question: what accounts for the baffling differences in governmental public goods provision in rural China? She provides a seemingly simple answer by identifying solidary groups which are encompassing as well as embedding as the major explanatory factor in what she calls a model of informal accountability. Here, encompassing means that these groups' boundaries overlap with those of administrative areas, while embedding highlights the importance of accommodating local officials in these groups. Solidary groups are bound together by common, but informal norms of solidarity which have the effect of making local officials accountable to other group members (ideally coterminous with the whole village).