Agricultural power is a national manifestation of comprehensive rural revitalization, a global expression of agricultural and rural modernization, and an important symbol of socialist modernization power. At present, the policy paradigm of agricultural power does not go beyond the basic scope of agricultural and rural modernization. Agricultural modernization is the core proposition of building an agricultural power, but it does not actually constitute a key constraint in the construction of an agricultural power. The key to building an agricultural power is to achieve the integration and balanced coordination of agricultural and rural modernization.
Looking at the major developed countries in the world, the modernization of agriculture and rural areas has gone through very different development processes. Analyzing the “three paths” of modernization in agriculture and rural areas around the world can help us learn from the past and avoid falling into the “agricultural rural imbalance trap”.
1、 The Road to Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas in the United States
1. Temporal characteristics and typical facts. The modernization of agriculture and rural areas in the United States has gone through the temporal characteristics of “strategic poverty reduction – infrastructure expansion – new urban-rural relations”. The overall impression given by this process is the lack of a systematic rural development strategy. In the eyes of Europeans, rural development in the United States lacks “political priority”, or even “American rural policy”. Even American scholars believe that various departments pursue their own rural policies, and the federal government lacks the ability to coordinate and act in concert.
2. Development environment and policy logic. The reason why the United States chose this path of agricultural and rural modernization and achieved success is due to a relaxed development environment. The United States is an immigrant country with superior resource endowments, directly transplanting the achievements of the British Industrial Revolution. Since its founding, it has not faced intense conflicts between people and land, and during World War II, its homeland has not suffered from the ravages of war. This means that there are very few “concentrated and contiguous” deep impoverished “areas in the United States. In the process of strategic poverty reduction in the United States, although there are also specific regional development and subsidy measures for specific populations, the dominant position is developmental poverty reduction, which means that as the country or region develops as a whole, the impoverished population is introduced into the social division of labor system to achieve poverty reduction goals. By 1960, its urbanization rate had exceeded 70%, and the relatively developed urbanization conditions provided good economic support for the subsequent modernization of agriculture and rural areas in the United States.
2、 The Road to Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Europe
1. Temporal characteristics and typical facts. The modernization of agriculture and rural areas in Europe has gone through the temporal characteristics of “post war revival – planning and control – post productivism”. Compared with the United States, the process of agricultural and rural modernization in Europe shows two typical characteristics: on the one hand, agricultural and rural policies in the post-war recovery stage show a stronger Centralisation. In the eyes of Europeans, the United States lacks a systematic rural policy; In the eyes of Americans, Europe shows a stronger “Centralisation” feature. The “Centralisation” here is not from the perspective of political system, but from the perspective of public policy connectivity. On the other hand, in the middle and later period of agricultural and rural modernization, it shows a stronger Postmodernism color. Since the 1990s, the ideas of “Postmodernism”, “post production” and “greenism” have been popular in Europe and have had a great impact on policy orientation.
2. Development environment and policy logic. Modernization in Europe started early. By 1930, the urbanization rate in the UK was close to 80%. After the war, the main focus was on adjustment and recovery. Compared to the United States, there was much less pressure on rural poverty alleviation and infrastructure construction. In 1970, the urbanization rate of major Western European countries had exceeded 70%, and the urban distribution was balanced, with a high proportion of small and medium-sized cities. Rural modernization was basically developed within the urban framework, which was a unique condition for European agricultural and rural modernization.
3. Rules and inspirations. The transformation of European agricultural and rural modernization from Expansionism to conservatism is mainly led by several old developed countries in Western Europe, which is also the reflection of Postmodernism in the specific field of agricultural and rural areas. There is a strong imbalance in internal development in Europe. Many countries in Eastern and Southern Europe are still in a stage where traditional agriculture coexists with modern agriculture, and these countries themselves have not entered a postmodern society. The change in the path choice of cutting-edge countries is bound to have a profound impact on other regions of Europe. Whether this will cause relatively backward countries within Europe to lose development opportunities is a question worth paying attention to and being vigilant about.
3、 Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Japan
1. Temporal characteristics and typical facts. The modernization of agriculture and rural areas in Japan has gone through the temporal characteristics of “industrial revitalization rural revitalization pan agriculturalism”. After the war, Japan continued to promote agricultural land consolidation and Mechanised agriculture in the process of industrial revitalization, and the level of agricultural modernization was advancing rapidly. However, the over sparseness and aging of rural areas continued to increase. Japan’s agricultural modernization is a type of “small-scale farmer modernization”. After reaching a certain stage, this development model will fall into the “high-level equilibrium trap” and be difficult to continue iterative updates, unable to provide sufficient support for rural modernization. After industrial revitalization, Japan invested a lot of energy in rural revitalization and community building. However, in the later stage of modernization, it was difficult for Japan to effectively balance and balance the increasingly diverse agricultural policy goals, thus falling into the quagmire of “pan agriculturalism”.
2. Development environment and policy logic. Rural Japan suffered from the Great Depression in the 1930s and did not truly emerge from the gloom until after the war. In order to prevent a relapse into crisis, the Japanese government has launched multiple revitalization movements in an attempt to enhance rural viability. These movements have formed a common concept: rural areas are distinct spaces from cities, and a modern new countryside with special qualities can be built through the diligence and frugality of farmers. In addition, the small Yeoman system established under the leadership of the United States after World War II has had a significant political impact on Japanese farmers so far. The Japanese government cannot ignore the interests of farmers. The combination of agriculturalism and political factors has deeply influenced the agricultural policy pattern in Japan, becoming the institutional root of Japan’s agricultural and rural modernization into difficulties.
3. Rules and inspirations. Someone once asked: Why did Japanese agriculture “point the wrong policy tree”? Japan is the earliest country in East Asia to enter modernization, and seeking to become a major country with global influence is its long-standing aspiration. During this process, Japan has always had a difficult choice: in a modern economy with a small territory, scarce resources, and highly developed, what position should agriculture and rural areas be in?
Please sign in to comment
register