No Worse off? The governance impacts of compensating for land takings in China

Abstract

We examine the impacts of compensation not only on land-losers’ subsequent livelihoods, but also on distributions, governance and organisational capacity, social positioning, and ability to live the sorts of lives farmers value. The power of this encompassing perspective to reveal complex, far reaching consequences of different compensation arrangements is illustrated by qualitative research in three wealthy jurisdictions that trialled China’s new ‘models’ of land compensation: Guangdong, Shanghai, and Zhejiang. The analysis demonstrates that the emphasis on ‘models’ of compensation obscures incoherence, contradictory rules and processes, and reversals in compensation arrangements; and that rather than providing corrective justice or well-being, compensation has left many communities, households, and individuals worse off.