Analysis of the Operation Mechanism of Rural Governance and the Realisation Path of Participatory Governance Based on Calculus Theory

In recent years, China’s rural society has undergone profound changes in economic, social and cultural fields, and rural construction has been further promoted. The traditional rural management mode has gradually lost its effectiveness, and the concept of rural governance is gradually being introduced into rural construction. The tasks of rural governance include promoting the transformation and upgrading of rural industries, improving rural infrastructure, perfecting rural public services, and strengthening rural environmental protection, etc. [1-4], and this process cannot be separated from the perfect rural governance operation mechanism, which is the foundation of the rural governance system and is of great significance in guaranteeing the stability of the rural society, promoting the development of the rural economy, and improving the life of the rural inhabitants, and the achievement of These goals require the participation and efforts of all subjects [5-8].

The essence of rural governance is that all kinds of governance subjects jointly participate in the process of rural construction, dealing with rural affairs and deciding rural development. To achieve effective governance in the countryside, it is necessary to give full play to the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of villagers in the process of rural governance and to build a social governance community in which everyone has responsibility, everyone does their part, and everyone enjoys it, which is also the basic goal and reform direction of social governance modernization to be realized in the countryside [9-12]. At present, China vigorously promotes the reform and innovation of rural governance, continuously improves the modern rural social governance system, and the enthusiasm of farmers to participate in rural governance has been greatly improved [13-14]. However, due to the difficulty in making a living from the income brought by agriculture, the lack of employment opportunities in the countryside, the large number of rural young and strong outflow, the permanent villagers are affected by knowledge and traditional thinking, the villagers’ concept of self-governance and awareness is insufficient, and participation in rural governance, especially self-governance, is far from being sufficient [15-17].

Shuling, C. et al. emphasized that participatory governance is a viable means of effective governance. Through a comparative study, it was pointed out that participatory governance under full empowerment enhances the capacity of community participation by granting rights and resources to motivate the community to participate, forming self-management and adaptation mechanisms, coordination mechanisms, etc.[18] Shuling,C. initiated an assessment of the effectiveness of agricultural and rural management committees at the local level, pointing to the challenges that the committees face in the implementation process. The findings of the study indicated that only some of the governments of the surveyed districts achieved results consistent with their objectives [19].Waheduzzaman,W. et al. presented the participatory governance policies that ended in failure in Bangladesh and discussed the reasons for their failure through a case study and found that corruption and dysfunction in the political system of Bangladesh seriously undermined the role of the state in citizen participation in development activities [20]. Ying,S. examined the path of participatory planning by taking the experimental participatory planning in a village in Zhejiang as a research object and analyzed the impact of participatory planning on rural governance by adopting a behavioral research approach. The results showed that participatory planning is a social approach that effectively promotes governance, but in order to ensure the effectiveness of its implementation, it needs a certain institutional condition [21]. Omweri,F. A comparative study was applied to explore the capacity of government for participatory governance in rural areas of Kenya and Uganda. The implementation of the legal framework for public participation and constraints to citizen participation in governance were examined based on three theories: decentralization, public participation and governance. A qualitative comparative case study concluded that both countries promoted public participation through legal frameworks and mechanisms but with unsatisfactory outcomes, while constraints to civic participation included cultural barriers, the digital divide, etc.[22]. Kondratyev, M.V., et al. aimed to assess the role of self-governance organizations of rural dwellers in counteracting unfavorable demographic trends and to identify and classify the forms of participation of rural populations in local self-governance. The results of sociological research in rural settlements were summarized using the case study method. The results of the study showed that shortcomings in the efficiency of local government, availability of resources, etc., lead to informal forms of participation of the population, and informal practices favor the development of rural settlements [23].

In terms of research methodology, this paper introduces the research methodology of the economic management discipline to study rural governance issues, organically combines the coordination theory and the utility function theory in calculus, and expands the research content of rural governance and new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations (NPCE). The synergistic mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance is constructed, and the structural elements such as synergistic dynamics, synergistic operation and synergistic guarantee mechanism of relevant governance subjects, as well as the operation mechanism of mutual influence among the elements are specifically explored in the process of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance. Finally, through the organic combination of comprehensive analysis, case analysis, qualitative analysis, and quantitative analysis, the empirical research becomes more comprehensive, theoretical, and practical.

2

Participation of new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations in rural governance

2.1

Rural Governance

The concept of rural governance was developed to address the changes that have occurred in Chinese rural society and is focused on addressing the problems and new needs that have arisen in rural society. The concept of rural governance is proposed to refer to the harmonious and orderly development of rural society by solving the problems faced by the villages and achieving them [24].

This paper argues that rural governance refers to the process of combining the rule of ethics, the rule of law, and self-governance by playing the role of village committees, party organisations, governmental organisations, township sages, clansmen, peasants, and other pluralistic governance subjects, participating in the solution of various problems and needs in rural development through both formal and informal systems, and continuously improving the efficiency of rural governance to promote rural revitalisation.

2.2

New farmers’ co-operative economic organisations

Farmers’ cooperative economic (PCE) organisations refer to mutual-aid economic organisations based on rural family contracting, where producers and operators of agricultural products, or providers and utilisers of agricultural production and operation services, voluntarily unite and are democratically managed.

With the development of the times, the business types of farmers’ professional co-operatives have been increased to include rural folk crafts and products, the development and operation of leisure agriculture and rural tourism resources, as well as related services such as technology, information, and the construction and operation of facilities related to agricultural production and operation. And new forms of co-operatives, such as farmers’ cooperative associations, are also included in the category of farmers’ professional cooperatives, which we call a new type of farmers’ cooperative economy (NPCE) organizations [25].

The emergence of NPCE organisations fills the gaps and blind spots that may occur in the economic, political and social construction and management of rural formal organisations, and can be seen as a necessary and useful supplement to the rural formal organisations in the function of rural governance, and the relationship between the two can be seen as a principal-agent relationship.

2.3

Participation of NPCE organisations in rural governance synergy mechanisms

The synergistic mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance refers to the establishment of norms and institutional principles between NPCE organisations and other governance subjects, as well as the division of labour and coordination and linkage mechanisms between NPCE organisations and other governance subjects in the process of governance, including both formal and informal systems. The synergistic mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance involves the synergistic mechanism between them and the grassroots government, the synergistic mechanism with village committees, and the synergistic mechanism with other governance subjects, including their institutional construction and organisational settings. The synergistic mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance involves its synergistic mechanism with the grassroots government, its synergistic mechanism with the village committee, and its synergistic mechanism with other governance subjects, in addition to its own system construction and organisational setup.

In this paper, the synergistic mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance refers to the process of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance, involving relevant governance subjects, synergistic dynamics, synergistic operation, synergistic guarantee mechanism and other relevant structural elements, such as well as the operating mechanism of the interaction between the elements.

2.3.1

Synergistic Dynamics

At the core of the synergistic power mechanism is the mutual exchange and fulfillment of resources and interests.Economic motivation and political motivation are important antecedents and important power sources for NPCE organisations to participate in rural governance.Government support, cooperation among townspeople, and support from villagers are important external forces that promote the participation of NPCE organizations in rural governance.

The synergistic power mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance is shown in Figure 1, where governmental organisations obtain the passage of the performance appraisal in cooperation with NPCE organisations, complete the implementation of relevant strategies as well as policies, and achieve the maximisation of mutual interests. By participating in collaboration with NPCE organizations and the government, enterprises can, on the one hand, obtain commissions based on production factors.On the other hand, through cooperation with NPCE and government organizations, they can obtain publicity and policy resources, and enterprises can also meet their interests. In the process of participating in rural governance, NPCE organisations have access to government policy incentives, political resources, as well as factors of production and governance resources, which greatly stimulate their motivation to participate in rural governance.

2.3.2

Synergistic operational mechanisms

The synergistic operation mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance refers to the process of cooperation and division of labour in which each governance subject participates in the process of rural governance on the basis of the synergistic dynamics of NPCE organisations with cooperatives as the link, and achieves the set goals through resource integration, project operation, and platform incubation.

Based on the synergistic dynamic mechanism, the synergistic operation mechanism of NPCE organisations participating in rural governance is constructed as shown in Figure 2. The starting point of synergy varies according to the nature of each subject, but all of them need three mechanisms to achieve this process, including the feedback mechanism for integrating goals and resources, the project operation mechanism, and the platform incubation mechanism, through which NPCE organisations successfully achieve the process of mobilisation, consultation, platform construction, the input of elements, and policy support, which is the process of synergy operation.

2.3.3

Collaborative safeguard mechanisms

The synergy guarantee mechanism consists of two aspects: the first is a newly formed mechanism that transfers information and feedback, and negotiates interests among organizations and villagers within the village community. This mechanism ensures that the operating costs of NPCE organisations are reduced and the synergy with other village organisations is enhanced. Secondly, under the synergy mechanism of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance, they can make use of the established multi-dimensional common governance system and reach better cooperation with other governance bodies to solve the problem of insufficient participation, and participate in various aspects of the rural economy, culture, environment, industry, ecology, and so on.

The synergistic guarantee mechanism for NPCE organisations to participate in rural governance is shown in Figure 3, which includes a consultation mechanism, a benefit-sharing mechanism, a policy block incentive mechanism, and a system of support formed by their industrial projects. Using these methods, NPCE organizations can achieve rapid development and participate in all aspects of rural governance in local communities.

2.4

Optimising the efficiency of collaborative rural governance

Calculus theory is an important mathematical computation theory used to deal with problem refinement and limitation, with the characteristics of good response and robustness. It is widely used in communication, contour recognition, and position adjustment of agricultural equipment [26].In this paper, calculus theory is applied to NPCE organizations’ participation in collaborative village governance to construct utility functions using calculus theory.In order to maximize the benefits of governance for the villagers, NPCE organizations, the central government represented by village committees, the local government, and the village formal organizations need to work together. The institutional structure of governance can be seen as a static representation of the balance of power and balance of interests basis of each governance subject in the interaction, of course, this static is temporary and is a node in the dynamic evolution.

2.4.1

Utility function of villagers

Villagers are the masters of rural society, the builders of the countryside, and the promoters and beneficiaries of the civilized progress of rural society.Similarly, villagers are also the most important construction and governance subjects of rural society.The development of NPCE organizations affects the villagers’ utility in both positive and negative aspects.First, from the positive side, NPCE organizations can become an effective carrier for small farmers to organically connect with modern agriculture. It can improve the agricultural socialised service system for small farmers, serve small farmers in various ways, and introduce small farmers into the modern agricultural development track so as to promote the high-quality development of the agricultural productive service industry. Secondly, from a negative perspective, the development of NPCE organizations has also had some negative impacts on the smallholder economy.

Therefore, the development of the NPCE organization has both positive and negative impacts on farmers, and with the development of the NPCE organization, the size of these two impacts has the law of “decreasing marginal change”. Let the probability of the positive impact of NPCE organization on farmers be s, and the probability of negative impact be t=1–s. Based on the calculus theory, the utility function of NPCE organization in rural governance for villagers is constructed as: (1) $Δ U (A) = S ρ_{s}^{p} - t {(1 - ρ_{s})}^{q}, W h i c h p_{`} q \in (0, 1)$ $$\Delta U\left( A \right) = S\rho _s^p - t{\left( {1 - {\rho _s}} \right)^q},\,Which\,{p_`}q \in \left( {0,1} \right)$$

Setting the villagers’ utility function at the initial stage of the development of the new agricultural entrepreneurs ρ=0 is U_A=α₀. Combining the above analyses, it can be concluded that the form of the villagers’ or farmers’ utility function can be summarised as follows: (2) $U (A) = α_{0} + S ρ_{s}^{p} - t {(1 - ρ_{s})}^{q}, W h i c h p {}_{`}q \in (0, 1)$ $$U\left( A \right) = {\alpha _0} + S{\rho _s}^p - t{\left( {1 - {\rho _s}} \right)^q},\,Which\,p{}_`q \in \left( {0,1} \right)$$

2.4.2

Utility functions of NPCE organisations

NPCE organisations are the new basic micro-economic cells in China’s agriculture and rural areas, as well as the new social, organisational basis of rural governance, the important supplying body of all kinds of agricultural products, and agricultural business organisations with the main goal of commercialised production. Despite the differences in the structure of their resource endowment, the way of combining factors and agricultural production methods, the composition of the cost of agricultural production and the emphasis on the adjustment of agricultural production structure, they are all market entities pursuing the maximisation of benefits. The utility function of NPCE organizations can be expressed as follows: (3) $U (B) = U (β_{0}, β_{1}, β_{2}, β_{3}, β_{4},) = U (β_{0}, ρ)$

Where β₀ is the opportunity cost of NPCE organisations, β₁ is the profit opportunity of NPCE organisations after entering the agricultural sector, β₂ is the support and input of policy resources from the state and government to NPCE organisations, and β₃ is the satisfaction of NPCE organisations in the pursuit of efficient allocation of factors of production and market liberalisation.

Therefore, this paper hypothesises β₄ as the degree of political, social and cultural embeddedness of NPCE organisations. β₁,β₂,β₃,β₄ is positively correlated with the coefficient of the degree of development of NPCE organisations ρ , and ρ is positively correlated with β₁,β₂,β₃,β₄ in decreasing increments. Then the utility function of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance, can be expressed as: (4) $U (B) = - β_{0} + ρ^{r}, r \in (0, 1)$

2.4.3

Utility functions of government organisations

Central Government

Assuming that the effect function of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance on the state or central government is U_CE, this positive positive effect, will gradually increase as the coefficient of government determination and confidence increases.

Let: (5) $U_{C E} = g \times c_{2}^{k} = l ρ^{r} \times c_{2}^{k}$

where l, c₂ are constants and l>0, c₂>1.

Combining the positive and negative effects of the central government, the utility function can be set as: (6) $U_{c} = U_{C N} + U_{C E} = - ρ (c_{1}^{1 / k} - c_{1}) + g \times c_{2}^{k} = - ρ (c_{1}^{1 / k} - c_{1}) + l ρ^{r} \times c_{2}^{k}$

and c₁>1, c₂>1, kϵ[0,1].

Clearly there is $\frac{\partial U_{C}}{\partial k} > 0$ , i.e., the utility received by the central government depends to a large extent on its combined index of determination and confidence k.

2) Local government

The evaluation coefficient indexes of economic development and rural revitalisation have become, two important indexes for local governments to maximise their performance. Economic development can be expressed by the economic activity index g, g=lρ^r, and the level of economic development can be expressed by the change of the economic activity coefficient in a certain period of time.

Local governments’ performance from economic development can be expressed as: (7) $T_{d} = t_{d} \times [(g_{i + 1} - g_{i})] = t_{d} \times l (ρ_{i + 1}^{r} - ρ_{i}^{r})$

Where t_d₁ is a constant greater than 0.

The positive economic effect of local government from economic development will increase with the optimisation of the structure of the society; on the other hand, the optimisation of the rural governance structure is also an important manifestation of the local government’s performance. Therefore, the utility function of local government performance is: (8) $T_{d} = T_{d} \times C_{2}^{a} = t_{d} \times l (ρ_{i + 1}^{r} - ρ_{i}^{r}) \times C_{2}^{a}$

Where aϵ[0,1], l are constants greater than 0 and C₂ is a constant greater than 1.

3) Village-level organizations

The utility function represented by the village committees is assumed in this paper to consist of three parts, as it is a form of villagers’ self-governing organization that represents the overall interests of the village. Therefore, it can be assumed that the initial utility of the village under the development of the NPCE organization is U_E=e₀. The village-level organizations are in fact becoming a lower level of township “administrative organs”, so it has the need to optimize the performance, maximize the performance of the utility function for: (9) $T_{E} = T_{e} \times C_{3}^{δ} = t_{e} \times l (ρ_{j + 1}^{s} - ρ_{j}^{s}) \times C_{3}^{δ}$

Where, as before, economic development can be expressed in terms of the economic activity index g, g=lρ^s, and the level of economic development can be expressed in terms of the change in the economic activity coefficient over a certain period of time as: (10) $T_{e} = t_{e} \times l (ρ_{j + 1}^{s} - ρ_{j}^{s})$

Where δ is the coefficient of the degree of optimisation of the governance structure at the micro level, within the village society. As the governance structure within the village is optimised, i.e. the value of δ increases, the utility of economic development in the village also increases. Therefore, the utility function for performance maximisation is: (11) $T_{E} = T_{e} \times C_{3}^{δ} = t_{e} \times l (ρ_{j + 1}^{s} - ρ_{j}^{s}) \times C_{3}^{δ}$

Where δϵ[0,1], l are constants greater than 0 and C₃ is a constant greater than 1.

The utility function of the village organisation represented by the village committees is: (12) $U_{E} = e_{0} + ρ_{e}^{z_{e}} + t_{e} \times l (ρ_{j + 1}^{s} - ρ_{j}^{s}) \times C_{3}^{δ}$

where δϵ[0,1], l are constants greater than 0 and C₃ is a constant greater than 1.

3

Empirical analysis of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance

This paper takes Province S as a study case, which has 12,512 NPCE organisations with a total of 183,500 people by the end of 2023, of which 672, 1,505 and 3,410 cooperative demonstration societies at the provincial, municipal, county and township levels have been reached respectively. Based on the statistical data of Province S, the utility functions of different subjects under the participation of NPCE organisations in rural cooperative governance are used to explore the participation of NPCE organisations in rural governance and the enhancement effect on rural governance.

3.1

Problems with rural governance

Taking a village in Province S as an example, the situation of village governance was analysed and summarized. It was found that there is still much room for improvement in village governance. The specific types of demands in the immediate handling work of villagers’ demands are shown in Figure 4. It can be seen that the most popular demands of rural residents are those in the area of housing, with 4,052 claims, followed by those in the area of science, education, culture and health, with 2,387 claims.

As for the specific types of housing-related demands, as shown in Figure 5, the most problematic issues in these demands are property management demands, with 2,315 cases, followed by community support demands, with 1,183 cases.It can be seen that rural residents are most concerned about infrastructure, management, and housing needs.

At the same time, from the data of the average number of days of processing and the average satisfaction of processing, it can be seen that the average number of days of solving the demands is more than 5 days, while the average satisfaction is mostly lower than 5 points, that is, at this stage, there is the problem of a long time of solving the demands and the low satisfaction of the residents. This reflects that at the current stage of rural governance, there is a phenomenon of low problem-solving efficiency and that the governance method cannot meet the residents’ demands.

Due to the existence of a certain degree of contradiction between different rural governance scenarios, the rural governance programme is unable to take into account the needs of multiple parties. In the process of solving one aspect of the problem, it may lead to the emergence of another problem. For example, road construction can lead to a decrease in the convenience of residents, which can further lead to the emergence of demands related to the convenience of life. As there is a certain contradiction between road construction and residents’ convenience of life, it is impossible to solve the demands related to citizens’ convenience of life in road construction scenarios, which will lead to low satisfaction of the residents. Therefore, in the process of rural governance, it is necessary to consider how conflicting governance objectives should be optimally coordinated, so as to further improve the level of rural governance.

3.2

Analysis of the utility of NPCE organisations’ participation in rural governance

3.2.1

Economic utility analysis

As an example, in a green forest and fruit cooperative in S province, there are 720 farmers in the village, of which 212 are cooperative member households, and the main industry is agriculture and forest and fruit industry. The researcher of this paper, with the help and cooperation of the leaders of this commune and cooperative economic organization, collected data information on the income status of 40 cooperative member households and 40 non-cooperative member households from 2021 to 2023 and studied the three years’ incomes as three categories of data respectively. The results of the sampled surveys are shown in Table 1, where 0 and 1 indicate whether or not they are members of the New Farmer Cooperative Economy (NPCE) organization, with 0 indicating that they are not members and 1 indicating that they are members. In order to show that joining the NPCE organization can bring tangible benefits to farmers, it is important to show that there is a significant difference between farmers’ choices of “0” and “1”. In this paper, ANOVA is used to test the significance of the difference between the means of the two samples.

Table 1.

Income data of the study sample (unit: Yuan)

ID	Take part	Economic income			ID	Take part	Economic income
ID	Take part	2021	2022	2023	ID	Take part	2021	2022	2023
1	1	3100	4400	3800	41	0	3700	2900	3800
2	1	4500	3800	4300	42	0	2600	3400	4000
3	1	4200	4400	4700	43	0	3000	2800	2800
4	1	4200	3500	4000	44	0	2900	3500	3600
5	1	3500	3900	3500	45	0	2700	3600	2900
6	1	3800	4400	4600	46	0	3700	3500	3700
7	1	3500	3300	3500	47	0	3900	3300	3200
8	1	3600	4200	4200	48	0	2500	3700	4000
9	1	3200	3500	4100	49	0	2900	3400	3200
10	1	3400	4000	3500	50	0	2500	2800	3600
11	1	4200	3900	3500	51	0	3400	2800	3400
12	1	3500	3500	4500	52	0	3500	3400	3700
13	1	3600	3300	4600	53	0	2700	3600	3600
14	1	3400	3600	4100	54	0	3600	3400	3800
15	1	4100	3500	4800	55	0	2800	3600	3900
16	1	3900	4000	3700	56	0	2900	3300	4000
17	1	4100	3300	3800	57	0	4000	2900	3600
18	1	4400	3800	4800	58	0	2900	3100	3100
19	1	3500	3500	4200	59	0	4000	3000	4000
20	1	3300	3500	4500	60	0	3700	2800	3900
21	1	3900	4300	4800	61	0	4000	3500	2900
22	1	4400	4200	3800	62	0	3300	3200	3400
23	1	3500	4400	4000	63	0	4000	3300	3300
24	1	3200	3900	4200	64	0	3000	3600	3100
25	1	4100	4000	4300	65	0	2800	2800	3600
26	1	4300	4300	3500	66	0	3500	3300	3400
27	1	3800	4200	4300	67	0	3500	3700	3400
28	1	4100	4500	3700	68	0	3100	3100	4000
29	1	3700	3400	3700	69	0	2600	3100	3800
30	1	3300	4200	4200	70	0	2900	3200	3100
31	1	3200	3400	3500	71	0	3200	3300	3700
32	1	4300	3600	4500	72	0	3600	2900	2800
33	1	3000	4300	3700	73	0	3400	3800	3700
34	1	4400	3600	3800	74	0	3300	2800	2900
35	1	3600	4200	3500	75	0	3600	3000	4000
36	1	3600	4500	4300	76	0	2600	2900	3700
37	1	3900	4400	4100	77	0	3300	3500	2800
38	1	4500	4100	4500	78	0	3100	2800	3400
39	1	3800	3600	4600	79	0	2500	2900	4000
40	1	4000	3300	3900	80	0	3100	3400	3200

The results of the statistical description of income for choosing whether or not to join the NPCE organisation are shown in Table 2, which shows that out of the 80 farm households surveyed, 40 farm households did not participate in the new farmers’ co-operative economic organisations, while 40 families participated in the farmers’ co-operative economic organisations. Among them, the average household income of all members who did not participate in the farmers’ cooperative economic organization in 2021, 2022, and 2023 was 3207.5, 3222.5, and 3500 Yuan.In contrast, the household incomes of the members who joined the farmers’ cooperative economic organizations were 3790, 3892.5, and 4090 respectively.From the perspective of mean value, it can be seen that the economic benefits of joining cooperative organizations are much better than those of not joining cooperative organizations. The confidence intervals are [3015.58, 6863.73] and [2243.42, 4536.52] for participating and non-participating households respectively, in 2023 at the 95% confidence level. This shows that there is a significant difference between the two.

Table 2.

Choose whether to join the NPCE organization’s income statistics description

Economic year		Sample size	Mean value	Std. Deviation	95% confidence interval about the mean
Economic year		Sample size	Mean value	Std. Deviation	Lower bound	Upper bound
2021	0	40	3207.5	496.19	3535.24	4535.77
	1	40	3790	757.06	4935.21	5436.51
	Totality	80	3498.75	472.75	4224.52	4586.91
2022	0	40	3222.5	551.62	2865.32	3145.06
	1	40	3892.5	382.78	3515.16	5782.33
	Totality	80	3557.5	724.35	3206.24	5441.82
2023	0	40	3500	560.88	2243.42	4536.52
	1	40	4090	757.73	3015.58	6863.73
	Totality	80	3795	573.45	2678.33	3583.51

The results of the one-way analysis of variance are shown in Table 3, which shows that the total controllable error of economic income in 2023 due to between-group factors is 3.952×10⁷, while the total uncontrollable error due to within-group factors is 1.058×10⁷, with a mean error of 131862.2. It is thus clear that the impact on farmers’ income is much greater due to the influence of the different between-group factors (0.000<0.05 of the significance check). This also shows that the change in farmers’ income is mainly due to the membership of farmers’ co-operative economic organisations. Therefore, it can be said that the emergence of the New Farmers Cooperative Economy (NPCE) organizations has increased the income of farmers and thus improved their standard of living.This is the case in 2022 and 2021, both of which can be shown to have caused the increase in farmers’ income mainly due to membership in farmers’ cooperative economic organizations.

Table 3.

Single Factor Analysis Results

year	Error	Total sum of squares	Degree of freedom	Average sum of squares	F	Sig.
2023	Inter-group error	3.952E7	1	3.952E7	306.838	0.0000
	Intra-group error	1.058E7	78	131862.2
	Total error	5.055E7	79
2022	Inter-group error	1.775E8	1	1.775E8	5.338	0.0218
	Intra-group error	2.636E9	78	3.312E7
	Total error	2.837 E9	79
2021	Inter-group error	1.105E7	1	1.105E7	69.243	0.000
	Intra-group error	1.334E7	78	168843.4
	Total error	2.468E7	79

3.2.2

Utility analysis of the level of governance

Taking village-level professional cooperatives in Province S as an example, based on the interpretation of the calculation of the composite index of village governance level, the closer to 1, the higher the degree of effective realisation of village governance, and the closer to 0, the worse the performance of village governance level. The descriptive statistics of the village governance level index are shown in Table 4. Overall, in the case of the participation of new farmers’ cooperative economic (NPCE) organisations in village governance, the mean value of the village governance level composite index of the village is 0.638, the maximum value is 0.805, the minimum value is 0.422, and the coefficient of variation is 0.138. The relatively low composite score indicates that the village governance level of the sample villages still has room for improvement, which is consistent with reality.There is still room for improvement, which is in line with the actual situation and the preconceived hypothesis. At the same time, the weak variation in the level of the coefficient of variation also indicates that the goal of balanced development in less developed areas has been achieved with the inclusion of the NPCE organisation.

Table 4.

Descriptive statistics of village level governance index

Dimensionality	Mean	Coefficient of variation	Maximum	Minimum
Village level comprehensive management level	0.638	0.138	0.805	0.422
Economic development and industrial integration level	0.492	0.391	0.856	0.031
Democracy construction and organizational mobilization level	0.534	0.277	0.897	0.155
Infrastructure and public service level	0.827	0.138	0.979	0.354
Social stability and village order level	0.705	0.097	0.988	0.423

3.3

Countermeasures to improve the participation of NPCE organisations in rural governance

There are many problems in the participation of new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations in the process of rural governance, both in terms of the normative aspects of the cooperative economic organisations themselves and for reasons of the external environment and policies. Therefore, in order to promote the integration and healthy development of the two, it is necessary to take necessary measures in terms of institutional mechanisms, external environment, and self-construction.

Establishing a sound rural market economic system

The key to the participation of new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations in rural governance lies in the degree of development and perfection of new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations, and it is this perfection that determines the degree of influence on rural governance. The influence of an immature and unsound cooperative economic organization on rural society is limited.The perfection of new farmers’ cooperative economic organizations requires scientific, institutional design, the development of the organization, and the assistance of external conditions. With the development of the market economy, the increased openness of society, and the increased awareness of farmers’ freedom, equality and rights, there will be an increase in the number of various farmers’ cooperative economic organisations, all of which will influence rural governance.

Encourage the development of standardised and competitive farmers’ professional cooperative economic organisations

In the market-led rural governance structure, new farmers’ cooperative economic organizations are the main body.Whether in theory or reality, cooperative economic organizations for new farmers can become an important mainstay of rural governance.Besides external factors, they must also have several internal conditions:

First, the number and scale of farmers’ cooperative economic organisations.

The second is the degree of organisation and standardised operation mechanism of farmers’ cooperative economic organisations.

The third is a clear development goal and economic interest linkage mechanism.

Integrating and applying various forces and elements in rural governance

Rural governance is a systematic project that requires the participation of various forces, and in rural governance, it is necessary to integrate all kinds of forces, work to mobilise all factors and govern and build together. Specifically:

First, to ensure that the township government and village organisations are able to exercise their respective responsibilities in accordance with the provisions of the law, to adapt to market rules, in line with the needs of farmers’ co-operative economic organisations and farmers’ economic development, and to show a good image of the leader in rural governance.

Secondly, it is necessary to give full play to the role of economic participation and political and social influence of new farmers’ cooperative economic organisations in rural governance. We should establish cooperative economic organizations for farmers that are good in terms of quantity, scale, quality, and norms, and encourage and support their participation in rural governance.

Thirdly, we should guide and fully utilize the complementary roles of rural economic experts, social elites, non-governmental social organizations, and other social forces in rural governance.

Only under the goal of protecting the economic interests of farmers, social harmony and stability, and playing their respective roles together to form a complementary and mutually complementary can we ensure the development of the main body of rural governance, forming a strong force of rural governance.

4

Conclusion

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive process and action of government organizations, villagers, and local new farmers cooperative economy (NPCE) organizations to establish a cooperative relationship through the organic adaptation of “strong relationship-weak relationship” to achieve the improvement of the performance of village governance in the effective interaction with farmers and to achieve the goal of effective governance and village development. Logic. Due to the complexity, diversity, rapid change, and other characteristics of rural governance problems, this paper uses the utility function in calculus to construct a model for each subject of rural governance and then explores the behavior of actors and their results in the action scenarios.

Finally, it empirically analyzes the impact of NPCE organizations’ participation in rural governance on villagers’ access to economic utility and the level of comprehensive governance. It is found that the synergistic motivation of NPCE organizations in a village in S province to participate in rural governance mainly comes from three aspects, namely, improving governance, acquiring political capital, and connecting with external resources. And driven by these three dynamics, I am motivated to cooperate and interact with other organizations to participate in village governance. In this process, with cooperatives as the link, through the feedback mechanism of integrating goals and resources, the mechanism of multi-level operation of projects, and the mechanism of incubating platforms, the collaborative governance process of mobilizing—consulting—building platforms—inputting factors—and supporting policies has been achieved, and in this process, the collaborative governance process of mobilizing—consulting—building platforms—inputting factors—and supporting policies has been formed. This process has also established a division of labor. As a result, the construction of a synergistic mechanism for cooperatives to participate in rural governance has been initially realized, and certain results have been achieved.

Funding:

“Research on Enhancing Emergency Response Capacity in Rural Guangxi under Major Epidemics” - Guangxi Social Science Fund Project (No.: 21FGL028);

“Countermeasures for the Management and Control of the “Homestay+” Accommodation New Industrial Form in Guangxi Border Areas” - 2023 Guangxi Public Security Bureau Research Project (Project No.: 2023GAYB048);

“Research on the Construction of Campus Security Prevention System under the Perspective of Overall National Security View in Guangxi Colleges and Universities” - 2023 Guangxi Public Security Bureau Research Project (Project No.: 2023GAQN096).

Język:: Angielski

Częstotliwość wydawania:: 1 razy w roku
Dziedziny czasopisma:: Nauki biologiczne, Nauki biologiczne, inne, Matematyka, Matematyka stosowana, Matematyka ogólna, Fizyka, Fizyka, inne

Kanał RSS czasopisma

Analysis of the Operation Mechanism of Rural Governance and the Realisation Path of Participatory Governance Based on Calculus Theory

Hua Zhao

Data publikacji: 17 mar 2025

Otrzymano: 04 lis 2024

Przyjęty: 16 lut 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/amns-2025-0155

Słowa kluczoweNPCE organisation, Rural governance, Calculus theory, Utility function, Pluralistic shared governance

© 2025 Hua Zhao, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Słowa kluczowe
NPCE organisation, Rural governance, Calculus theory, Utility function, Pluralistic shared governance