[雙語翻譯]鄉(xiāng)鎮(zhèn)選舉外文翻譯

1、3600 英文單詞， 英文單詞，1.9 萬英文字符 萬英文字符,中文 中文 6000 字文獻出處： 文獻出處：Tomm J. Village and Township Elections in China: Elements of Democratic Governance[J]. On Politics, 2010, 1(2): 85-96.Village and Township Elections in ChinaElements

2、 of Democratic GovernanceJonathan TommIntroductionVillage and township elections in China have been the focus of much excitement among Western scholars. To many, such elections hold out the promise of genuine democracy t

3、aking hold in China, starting at the village level and (as both Western and Chinese democrats hope) one day moving up even to the national level. Others are more skeptical, suggesting that such elections only entrench th

4、e leadership of the Communist Party. This essay will argue that elections in China are a movement toward greater democracy in local governance. The methodology used will be a survey of the Western literature on village a

5、nd township elections in China, and engagement with the arguments put forward by scholars in this area.There has been an interesting debate around the meaning of village elections ever since their introduction in 1988. K

6、elliher, Pastor and Tan, O’Brien and Li, and Manion have all presented analyses of village elections, including observations of actual electoral practice, and more importantly, reflection on the relationship of such elec

7、tions to Communist Party leadership.1 Recent elections of township heads and township party secretaries have caused further debate. Fan Li and Lianjiang Li examine the politics of introducing township elections, again wi

8、th a view toward prospects for further democratization in China. Saich and Yang describe other innovations in township cadre selection, which, unlike direct election, are still considered “l(fā)egal” by the Party centre.3 Fi

9、nally, Fewsmith describes changes toward more openness to independent nominations and campaigning in party congress elections.4 Most of the sources above provide nuanced commentary on the relationship of elections in Chi

10、na to the possible emergence of democracy. This essay will evaluate some of the arguments made, and put forward a defense of the view that elections in China do, in fact, constitute a movement toward greater democracy. I

11、n particular, I will emphasize that increased consciousness of democratic rights among peasants and efforts to improve the representativeness of township cadre selection constitute important signs of democratic changes b

12、oth outside and inside the Communist Party.Recent openings in elections and representationVillage elections have evolved out of a long process of informal, local, and initially unofficial experimentation, beginning in 19

13、80. Following a long and heated intra-party debate, village elections were legally instituted as national policy in the 1988 Organic Law of Villagers’ Committees.By 1993, all provinces were implementing the three-year vi

14、llage election cycle. Kelliher describes how from 1989 to 1996, the merits of village elections were bitterly contested in public debate in China, with local officials (county level and below) most vociferously opposed.6

15、 However, it appears that since then, and particularly with the promulgation of a revised Villager Committees Organization Law in 1998, village elections have come to be widely accepted as legitimate.More recently, inter

16、est in rural elections revived again with reports of the extension of direct elections to the level of township. In particular, an election in Buyun township in Sichuan There are numerous problems in the actual implement

17、ation of elections that seriously impugn their effectiveness. First, many village elections simply do not happen at all, or are rigged or otherwise subverted by Party or government interference. As Kelliher notes, the pr

18、incipal resistance to village elections has come from local government officials. Despite the fact that elections have been national policy for over a decade now, many officials still resist. In the fragmented Chinese st

19、ate, the ability of local officials to creatively resist policies from the centre is a long-standing phenomenon.Second, village elections are plagued with numerous “irregularities” that undermine the fairness and competi

20、tiveness of the elections. Snap elections, disqualification of unapproved candidates, public voting, and intimidation have been used by Party officials to control elections. Party control over the nomination process is a

21、lso a common and effective method of Party interference.Third, “open recommendation and selection” (ORS) and the various other legal innovations in township cadre selection still fall far short of democratic standards. E

22、ven though the Party authorities relinquish some control over the final selection of the candidate, the Party still controls the process as a whole, and can design the eligibility criteria, exams, and voting procedures t

23、o achieve favourable results.Fourth, even when officials are elected fairly, the results can still be annulled by higher-up officials. Saich and Yang describe how the first candidate placed by the ORS process in Baoshi t

24、ownship was simply moved to a different township after only one year in office.Elected officials have little authorityAnother problem with viewing elections in China as signs of democracy is that the officials elected ha

25、ve little real power. Even if an election for a village head is free and fair, if the village head does not have power to make important decisions, the election may not be very meaningful. Although village and township l

26、eaders do have some authority over smaller matters of local finance and projects, the primary functions of these officials is to carry out orders handed down from the centre. Above all, village and township leaders have

27、to implement the three non-negotiable demands the state places on peasants: levying taxes and fees, procuring grain, and enforcing birth control. Even considering decisions made at the township level, elected leaders are

28、 still subordinate in practice to the township Party secretary. Given this, it would perhaps be more appropriate to consider village and township leaders bureaucrats rather than politicians since they primarily administe

29、r policy from above, rather than represent the interests of the electorate.Elections reinforce the legitimacy of Party leadershipPerhaps the strongest reason to be wary of seeing elections as signs of democracy is that e

30、lections seem to enforce the legitimacy of Party leadership. Indeed, Kelliher and others have pointed out that increasing the acceptance of Party authority among peasants and farmers is probably the Party’s primary reaso

31、n for allowing elections to happen. Kelliher notes that in the Chinese debate over village self-government, the main defense put forward for elections was that they increase the authority of Party cadres. Instituting som

32、e semblance of self-government at the local level helps to implicate villagers in the actions of the state by giving them a sense of responsibility for their leaders. Party proponents of village elections argue that elec

33、tions actually increase peasants’ willingness to give in to state demands.Elections can also buoy up the legitimacy of the Party by helping to recruit better Party cadres. The Party is aware that exploitation by corrupt