Regimes of dispossession in China: intra-state competition and land dispossession outcomes

Abstract

This paper proposes an explanation for variation in local outcomes to land dispossession in rural China. In China, state actors compete control of rural land. We then argue that when state actors face direct competition over land, they often give priority to higher-level state imperatives when shaping land policy, generating processes of development which are unlikely to generate earning opportunities for the landless. On the other hand, when village collectives gain control over land without competitive pressure from higher-level state officials, they are more likely to arrange land policy in ways that generate entrepreneurial opportunities for dispossessed people.