Cultivation of Grass-Roots Democracy

Abstract

Direct elections of residents committees in Shanghai cannot be claimed as an important experiment in political democracy. At best they are a legitimate organizational personnel reshuffle, and a successful one. The significance of exercising democratic rights is conspicuously absent. The Party organization and its agencies guided and controlled the entire electoral process, and there was general apathy among the residents. Some residents attempted to exercise their rights in the elections, but they were a minority and could not generate meaningful demonstration effects. Direct elections of residents committees did not involve competition between political programs and political proposals, and there was a lack of appeals, debates, confrontations, and compromises concerning the interests of the residents. In the building of grass-roots democracy in China’s cities, owners committees may have better potential.

Keywords

grass-roots democracy residents committees political apathy municipal governance owners committees

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