Book Description

The second essay investigates the impact of introducing village committee elections on the Communist Party's rule. This essay addresses this issue by examining the impact of electoral competition on village cadres' ties with the Party. I focus on two types of ties: village committee chairs' affiliation with Party branch and village cadres' Party membership. Using village and household survey data collected from 48 villages from 1995--2002, I find that introducing competitive elections tended to remove incumbents. Winners are less likely to belong to Party branches. Exploiting exogenous variations in the timing of implementation, I also find evidence suggesting that, although more non-Party members became cadres when competitive elections were first introduced, they are more likely to join the Party later on. It suggests that the Party may accommodate the new political forces by recruitment while elections prompt pluralization of power at village level.