治理过密化:理解乡村社会中国家联结个人的一种方式

Over-intensive Governance: A Way to Understand State-Individual Connections in Rural Society

在后税费时代,为有效联结有差别的个体,国家不断下移治理权力重心,划小基层治理单元,从而形成了资源更密集、结构更精细的治理方式。国家对个体的治理行动持续增加,却没有带来好的治理效果,这一现象可称为“治理过密化”。结合东部J市B村的经验,治理过密化的基本表现形式包括治理主体的全方位开发和治理方式的“单线化”与“去情感化”。国家提升乡村治理效能这一外生性因素和村级组织的“去组织化”这一内生性因素共同促成了治理过密化。在治理效应上,其非预期后果是放大了村民的失望感、村民自治空间萎缩和上级政府治理权威下降。化解治理过密化困境的思路,是从加强自然联系、优化联结渠道、增强内生发展动力等方面不断改进乡村治理方式,提升乡村社会治理效能。

Connections between the state and individuals are the most important link in the construction of state power, the modernization of a national governance system, and the building of governance capacity. Academic circles have been attempting to reach a new breakthrough in research on rural social governance from the perspective of state-society relations. These studies focus on the impact of the downward shift in the focus of state power on rural social systems, organizations, and social integration, but they neglect in-depth studies of rural governance from the perspective of state-individual connections. With the disappearance of rural intermediary organizations and the weakening of internal village relations, it is difficult for the state to realize effective and direct connections with various individuals in rural society. Excessive governance is the response to the fracture in state-individual communication channels. In this context, in order to effectively connect with individuals, the state has continuously adjusted downward the focus of governance power and has divided small grassroots governance units, forming a governance mode with more intensive resources and a more refined structure. State governance actions related to individuals have continued to increase, but they have not resulted in good governance. This phenomenon can be called “over-intensive governance”. From the perspective of state-individual relations, based on a case study of village B, in J City, of East China, this paper attempts to explore the manifestations, generative logic, and unintended consequences of over-intensive governance, and to summarize and reflect on the new mode of connections between the state and individuals in contemporary rural society.Based on the case study of village B, it is found that the basic manifestations of over-intensive governance include not only the all-round development of party members’ close contacts with the masses, team leaders’ expansion of direct-contact links with villages, and grid members’ crawling and combing villagers’ information but also the “single line” and “de-emotionalizing” of governance methods. This form of expression is reflected in the loose connections between the state and individuals. The reason why such over-intensive governance of rural society can be stably maintained is the result of the combined contributions of national governance modernization, government governance, and rural development. The exogenous factors for the state to improve the efficiency of rural governance and the endogenous factors of “de-organization” of village-level organizations jointly contribute to such over-intensive governance.Over-intensive governance not only does not improve governance capacity in rural areas but also produces unexpected governance effects. Congestion of governance channels and inefficient problem-solving have amplified the villagers’ sense of disappointment. The downward shift in the focus of power and the administration of village public affairs have led to a shrinkage in villagers’ space for autonomy. The demands of task substitution and the loss of village public trust have also reduced the governance authority of superior governments. In the short term, over-intensive governance of rural society will be strengthened to a certain extent, but in the long run, due to the existence of unexpected governance consequences, this way of connecting individuals in rural social governance will gradually weaken. Based on this, in order to enhance effective connections between the state and individuals, improve the ability to govern rural society, and resolve the dilemma of over-intensive governance, it is necessary to continuously improve the mode of rural governance and the efficiency of national governance in rural society from the perspectives of strengthening natural connections, optimizing the channels for village-level contacts, and enhancing the endogenous driving forces behind rural social development.