Go west, young Han : internal migration as a strategy of counterinsurgency
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Why was China able to insulate Xinjiang from Muslim insurgency for a generation during the Maoist period (1949-76) but not later (1981-2015)? The pattern challenges conventional understandings of "sons of the soil" conflicts because Muslim insurgency in Xinjiang decreased when Han in-migration to the region escalated, conversely increasing as Han in-migration declined. By considering counterinsurgency as a delegation problem, I show that state-supported internal migration through a multifunctional agency can be a strategy to reduce -- rather than cause indigenous insurgency. I analyze how the bingtuan in Maoist China served as a multifunctional agency for counterinsurgency -- an organization of Han migrants with the dual function of an armed force and farmers who supported their own livelihood through wasteland reclamation. The bingtuan's dual function provided a low-cost solution for precision-based counterinsurgency by removing the need for effective coordination between multiple agencies that each specialize in military force or intelligence collection. The threat of Soviet subversion via Xinjiang's Muslim population made the use a multifunctional agent optimal for targeting active insurgents precisely, without creating new grievances through indiscriminate repression. The Maoist state's command over key economic resources provided the requisite state capacity to induce compliance from its multifunctional agents. After Mao, declines in both foreign threat and a centrally controlled economy have led the state to use multiple counterinsurgent agencies that were unable to coordinate effectively, resulting in the re-emergence of Muslim insurgency. I test my theory through both within-Xinjiang analyses and cross-regional comparisons between Xinjiang and other peripheral provinces of China, Heilongjiang and Tibet. Evidence is based on my ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with professionals and officials, and an original collection of 550 hitherto untapped historical gazetteers.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2021; ©2021 |
| Publication date | 2021; 2021 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Zhang, Ruxi |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Laitin, David D |
| Degree supervisor | Oi, Jean C. (Jean Chun) |
| Thesis advisor | Laitin, David D |
| Thesis advisor | Oi, Jean C. (Jean Chun) |
| Thesis advisor | Acharya, Avidit |
| Thesis advisor | Blaydes, Lisa, 1975- |
| Degree committee member | Acharya, Avidit |
| Degree committee member | Blaydes, Lisa, 1975- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Political Science |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Ruxi Zhang. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Political Science. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2021. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/zp242xq4947 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2021 by Ruxi Zhang
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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