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Vote Buying, Village Elections, and Authoritarian Rule in Rural China: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

Hiroki Takeuchi
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Village elections are a democratic institution in one of the most resilient authoritarian regimes in the world. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has promoted village elections over the past twenty years, but not elections at higher levels. I present a game-theoretic model in which candidates would engage in vote buying when competing in a small electorate but not when competing in a larger electorate. The model's equilibrium outcome implies that the logic of China's introduction of village elections inherently limits this democratic reform to the grassroots level. Elections for higher levels of government would be dangerous to the regime because they would lead candidates to create substantive policy platforms and political organizations. Thus, rather than being an experiment that has failed to lead to further reforms, village democracy is self-limiting by design.

Keywords

Chinaauthoritarian ruleauthoritarian electionvote buyinggrassroots elections
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 69 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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