Between Freedom and Order: Evolution logic of urban-rural population mobility Policy from the perspective of historical institutionalism

Abstract

Urban-rural population flow is the key element and important driving force for urban-rural integration development and rural revitalization. The pattern of urban-rural population flow in China is restricted and guided by policies. From the perspective of historical institutionalism, this paper analyzes the evolution context, structural logic and dynamic mechanism of the change of urban and rural population mobility policy. The urban and rural population mobility policy has gone through five historical stages: the order reconstruction period at the beginning of the founding of New China, the political call period after the Great Leap Forward Movement, the free flow period after the reform and opening up, the period of making the best use of the situation under the economic system reform and the accelerated integration period under the background of the new era. The institutional choice under different paths, the institutional evolution under the key nodes and the institutional continuation under the path dependence constitute the structural logic of the policy change of urban-rural population mobility. The situation coupling under the action of exogenous variables, the value coupling promoted by the change of ideas, and the subject coupling under the interaction of actors’ game constitute the dynamic mechanism of policy change, which promotes the historical change and realistic development of policy.