Approaches to civil society in authoritarian states: The case of China

Abstract

Both civil society in China and research on Chinese civil society have developed profoundly over the last three decades. Research on Chinese civil society can be classified into two categories: a structure-oriented approach and an agency-oriented approach.Both approaches acknowledge the state's dominant position in restricting the political space for civil society engagement, but they differ in their understanding of state-civil society relations. A key concern within the structure-oriented approach is to analyze how the autonomy of civil society organizations is shaped by their structural position vis-à-vis the state. Agency-oriented scholars, on the other hand, reject the analytical focus on structural autonomy. Instead, they build on a more nuanced understanding of the authoritarian yet nonmonolithic context in China and analyze how civil society organizations develop specific strategies to be able to operate within their restricted political space. In particular, agency-oriented scholars have analyzed two ways in which organizations exercise agency: by strategically developing formal or informal ties with state actors and by bringing their engagement into the public sphere to raise awareness and express their voice.What could be further developed in the agency-oriented approach is, however, a deeper understanding of the political dimensions of civil society agency.

NGO-led activism under authoritarian rule of Vietnam: Between cooperation and contestation

“…However, this accommodation can generate change, albeit incremental. This is resonant with NGO practice in other authoritarian contexts like China and Central Asia (Gleiss & Saether, 2017) where NGOs also exercise embedded activism, successfully orchestrating community mobilizations within the state agenda and discourse and through state bureaucratic structures to generate better policy outcomes.…”

“…Indeed, NGOs under authoritarian regimes tend to choose to work within the state agenda and utilize their structural links with the state agencies to search for political opportunities to work in favour of their organizational and development objectives (Foster, 2001;Heulin, 2010). A large account on Chinese NGOs practices, for example, indicates that within the restrictive political space, they strategically develop formal and informal ties with state actors as a strategy to gain access to resources or strengthen their own legitimacy (Gleiss & Saether, 2017;Hsu, 2010). Likewise, they consciously pursue a non-adversarial approach, carefully depoliticizing their activism, and skilfully mobilizing support from various actors including government, the media, and the general public, to advocate and engender changes (Ho & Edmonds, 2007).…”

Re-theorizing civil society in China: Agency and the discursive politics of civil society engagement

“…1 These recent developments have accentuated a long-standing scholarly debate concerning civil society's degree of autonomy vis-a-vis the state. 2 There are, indeed, important differences in the functioning of civil society in a one-party state, such as China, compared to civil society in liberal democracies. In China, the state has a dominant position in society and plays an important role in not only shaping, but also restricting the political space for civil society engagement.…”

“…While the general literature on civil society asserts that civil society can play an important political role in democracies, 5 there is limited research on the political role of civil society in the Chinese context. 6 In this article, we argue for the usefulness of adopting a discursive approach to politics to grasp the various ways in which civil society actors exercise agency within a restricted political context such as China.…”

“… 2. For a review of this debate, see Marielle Stigum Gleiss and Elin Sæther, Approaches to civil society in authoritarian states: The case of China, Sociology Compass 11(12), 2017, https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12542, accessed 8 May 2018. …”