Relations between the state and labour NGOs in China have been particularly fraught. In 2012, they took an interesting turn when some local governments made overtures to labour NGOs to cooperate in providing services to migrant workers. This article argues that this shift is part of a broader strategy of “welfarist incorporation” to redraw the social contract between state and labour. There are two key elements to this strategy: first, a relaxation of the registration regulations for social organizations, and second, governmental purchasing of services from social organizations. These overtures have both a state and market logic to maintain social control and stabilize relations of production.

This article examines critically the application of the developmental state concept to China. A conjuncture of specific political, socio‐economic and institutional processes, both internal and external, undermines the case for China as a developmental state. Against a back‐drop of intensifying global economic competition, intense rivalry between local economic actors for markets, resources and foreign investment not only produces contradictory developmental outcomes but also undermines the political and administrative capacity for fundamental social and economic transformation. The Chinese state is best understood as polymorphous, assuming multiple, complex forms and behaviours across time and space, and defying reduction to a unitary actor.

Attempts to analyse authoritarianism in China tend towards a static focus on the state that is homogeneous across time. We argue for a more nuanced approach that captures the dynamism and contours of state–civil society relations, and state–labour relations, in particular, in authoritarian states. Taking state–labour relations as a bellweather, we conceptualize ‘shades of authoritarianism’ as a framework for better understanding the complexities and evolution of state–society relations in authoritarian states. We illustrate this through the case of China, distinguishing different shades of authoritarianism in the Hu‐Wen era (2002–2012) and in the current regime of Xi Jinping

The Civil Society Working Paper (CSWP) series provides a vehicle for disseminating recent and ongoing research of researchers based at, or linked to The Centre for Civil Society (CCS). It aims to reflect the range and diversity of theoretical and empirical work undertaken on non-governmental, voluntary, non-profit, or third sector organisations, foundations and social enterprises-as part of wider civil society. The CCS is a leading, international organisation for research, analysis, debate and learning about civil society.

The raging debate about China's mega Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) falls into two extreme camps, those that forecast earthshattering effects and those, focused on the MSRI's numerous contemporary challenges, that see China's scheme as stagnating or failing. This study plunges into the debate by conducting a macro-and micro-level analysis of the MSRI. The macro-level analysis indicates that the MSRI is not having transformative economic effects. Neither does it show that the MSRI is significantly stalling or collapsing. The microlevel analysis, which focuses on Africa and the Middle East, demonstrates that the MSRI is being embraced and realized in different degrees and highlights reasons for this variation. The article further summarizes and distills various insights flowing from the other pieces in this special issue.