本书以在中国经济较为发达的广东省实施的一场民主发展实验为载体，以传统中国乡村自治以及近代以来农村基层民主的历史变迁为底色，以“制度”、“组织”和“能力”为分析框架，综合运用历史制度、组合实验、实证研究等分析方法，细致剖析了中国农村基层民主的发展样态和实践逻辑。归结起来，中国农村基层民主的实践和发展是乡村社会内在需求与现代国家建构双向互动的民主。这一民主样态是在国家与社会关系的张力中发展，在“适度”与“过度”的微妙平衡中推进，从而体现出鲜明的中国特色。本书由绪论、正文和结论三大部分构成。绪论部分主要阐述了本书的研究缘由和意义、研究假设、实验的设计模式以及样本村概况等。正文部分在分析中国乡村民主的历史基因和当代实验的基础上，详细阐述了“南农实验”的过程，包括农民的民主能力现状测评和农民的表达能力、合作能力、监督能力建设方略，以及基于该实验提出的中国乡村民主研究路径的转向。结论部分提出，农民的民主能力可以通过系统训练得到提升，在与制度建设、组织建设协调发展的过程中，可以有效推动乡村民主化治理不断进步。本书为教育部2014年全国百篇优秀博士论文修订版。

This book takes a democratic development experiment implemented in Guangdong Province, where China's economy is relatively developed, takes traditional Chinese rural autonomy and the historical changes of rural grassroots democracy since modern times as the background, takes "system", "organization" and "ability" as the analytical framework, and comprehensively uses historical system, combinatorial experiment, empirical research and other analytical methods to carefully analyze the development pattern and practical logic of rural grassroots democracy in China. To sum up, the practice and development of grassroots democracy in rural China is a democracy in which the intrinsic needs of rural society and the construction of modern state interact in both directions. This form of democracy develops in the tension between the state and society, and advances in the delicate balance between "moderation" and "excess", thus embodying distinctive Chinese characteristics. The book consists of three parts: introduction, main text, and conclusion. The introduction section mainly expounds the research reasons and significance of this book, the research hypotheses, the design mode of the experiment, and the overview of the sample village. Based on the analysis of the historical genes and contemporary experiments of rural democracy in China, the main text elaborates on the process of the "Southern Agricultural Experiment", including the evaluation of the current situation of farmers' democratic ability, farmers' ability to express, cooperate, and supervise capacity building, as well as the shift of the research path of rural democracy in China based on the experiment. The conclusion part proposes that the democratic ability of farmers can be improved through systematic training, and in the process of coordinated development with system construction and organizational construction, it can effectively promote the continuous progress of rural democratic governance. This book is the revised edition of the 100 excellent doctoral dissertations in China in 2014 by the Ministry of Education.（AI翻译）