Review on the Social Conflicts of Land Acquisition and Demolition and its causes in China: From the Perspectives of Stakeholders and Institutions

Abstract

In China, with the accelerating process of urbanization, social conflicts usually occur during the process of land acquisition and demolition, which has brought about large negative social impacts. Faced with the needs of the practice, this paper conducts a comprehensive review to sort out the performances of conflicts, to explore the causes and to provide some suggestions from both the stakeholders and institutional perspective. The study contends that there are three main manifestations of social conflicts in land acquisition and demolition: (1) violent enforcement of demolition; (2) differences in compensation needs; and (3) problems of landless people's disorderly struggle. At the same time, in order to solve these problems, the government should establish a sense of "service-oriented governance", distinguish the relationship between public interests and personal interests, enrich the public feedback channels to enhance the public's right to speak. For developers, the government should strengthen control and avoid corruption caused by the combination of officials and businessmen. Finally, the government should improve the compensation and supervision mechanism for land acquisition and demolition, fundamentally solving the chaotic state that no great laws to follow.