Abstract:

With the rapid development of urbanization，land requisition and demolishing has become an important factor in promoting rural development and in grassroots governance. It not only brings about intensive interests but also changes the logic of grassroots governance. This paper analyzes the phenomenon of elite alternation by taking a village in west Hubei as an example，where the traditional elites are encountered with various problems in land requisition and demolishing and secede from the governance system，while the emerging elites enter into the system supported by their economic and social capital. They solve public affairs such as the “nail households” caused by land requisition and demolishing and the “petition households” by taking advantage of their personal resources. We think that although such elite alternation has contributed to the solution of various problems in land requisition and demolishing，it may lead to the erosion of grassroots social interests and the decomposition of the legality of grassroots.

Key words: land requisition and demolishing, grassroots governance, elite alternation, traditional elites, emerging elites