Revolution, ideas and violence in policy implementation : a comparative research on birth control policy implementation in two provinces of China

Abstract

Formal state violence, in general, applied by “specialists in violence” gets much attention nowadays. However, administrative violence applied by non-specialists that is commonly identified in the implementation of regulative policy in authoritarian China, has been overlooked. This research fills the research gap by taking a revised historical institutionalism perspective and focusing on the violent behaviors of grass-roots cadres in the course of the implementation of birth control policy in China. I argue that the intensity of violent implementation of birth control policy in a province is significantly associated with the extent of influence of communist revolution, particularly gauged by the land reform led by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Grass-roots cadres in provinces with a high-intensity of idea remoulding in the land reform are more likely to adopt violent means during the implementation of the birth control policy. This argument is supported by empirical comparative studies of the implementation of birth control policy in two Chinese provinces from the 1980s to 1990s, when coercive policy enforcement was widespread. The collective violence-oriented ideas of grass-roots cadres were formed in the land reform of the Mao Era. The replacing of consanguinity and regionalism consciousness with class consciousness in the land reform removed the psychological barriers of the masses to apply violence on others in the same villages. The official and public support for the establishment of struggle consciousness - including employing physical violence on class enemies, justified violent behavior; the selection criteria for grass-roots cadres were changed to serve the revolution. Candidates that did not hesitate to apply violence were more likely to be chosen. Physical symbols of traditional culture were destroyed, further weakening the power of traditional elites who were relatively resistant toward imposing violence. Consequently, violence-oriented ideas prevailed among grass-roots cadres in high-intensity revolution localities and entered into the ideational “tool kit” of implementation from which generation after generation of grass-roots cadres have constructed strategies of action. Through the hereditary system and mentorship relationship between the old and new generation of village leaders, the collective ideas were preserved and are still active decades later. When it came to the Deng Era when birth control was a hard target, more violent implementation happened in provinces with intense land reform and also among street-level bureaucrats with violence-oriented ideas. This research has several contributions. First, it differentiates administrative violence from state violence committed by security forces. Despite being a common type of repressions in authoritarian regimes, administrative violence is rarely studied. This research on administrative violence improves the typology of state violence. Secondly, the study presents the role of idea on subnational variation of state violence. This new view offers some fresh insights into the research of state violence, which is dominated by explanations based on institutions and interests. Finally, this research exhibits us the relationship between violent revolution, violence-oriented ideas and state violence and it enriches the literature on legacy of revolution.