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The state-sponsored neighborhood organizations found in the cities of China, Taiwan and elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia seem, at first glance, like anachronistic and bureaucratic curiosities. Descending in part from dynastic and colonial mechanisms of cooptation and control, they perform administrative duties covering a wide range of government programs, including welfare, public health, policing, and (in authoritarian cases) political surveillance. Based primarily on participant observation, surveys, and interviews in Beijing and Taipei, this book shows that these statist structures remain salient and deeply rooted in certain parts of urban society, even as other constituents ignore or reject them.
China's ruling Communist Party has redoubled its commitment to the longstanding Residents' Committees, now widely called Communities, primarily as a means of keeping tabs on the country's rapidly changing urban neighborhoods and bolstering its organizational presence there. In Taiwan, the Neighborhood Wardens began as elements of the Kuomintang's mobilization apparatus but became politically plural as the ROC democratized starting in the 1980s. The wardens are voted into their positions through competitive elections and have considerable latitude for leadership and representation, while China's RCs remain under the tight control of the CCP. While they differ significantly in their political roles and also vary in many details, from the perspective of residents these institutions present broad similarities as all-purpose focal points of local authority, providers of services, organizers of neighborhood events and activities, and liaisons to city government.
A close look at these organizations provides insight into the micro-level fabric of state-society ties, and shows how these relationships vary from person to person and neighborhood to neighborhood. While these structures form an important part of the underpinning of a repressive regime like that of China, in other settings they show that institutions once created to control societies can evolve in ways that empower them.
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Names, Terms, and Romanization xv
1. Introduction: Administration at the Grass Roots in East and Southeast Asia 1
2. The Little Platoon: Structuring the Neighborhood 31
3. Elections, Bogus and Bona Fide 69
4. Power Relations at the Alley Level 93
5. Perceptions and Interaction 132
6. Thick Networks and State-Mobilized Volunteers 168
7. Thin Networks and the Appeals of Organic Statism 208
8. The Landscape of Grassroots Administration: Comparative Cases 237
9. Conclusion 257
Appendix 1: Research Methods 285
Appendix 2: Beyond the Two Capitals 294
Notes 301
References 323
Index 345
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