Hostname: page-component-669899f699-rg895 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-06T23:35:48.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The Rise of Consultative Authoritarianism in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2013

Jessica C. Teets
Jessica C. Teets*
Affiliation:
Middlebury College. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this article, I analyse civil society development in China using examples from Beijing to demonstrate the causal role of local officials' ideas about these groups during the last 20 years. I argue that the decentralization of public welfare and the linkage of promotion to the delivery of these goods supported the idea of local government–civil society collaboration. This idea was undermined by international examples of civil society opposing authoritarianism and the strength of the state-led development model after the 2008 economic crisis. I find growing convergence on a new model of state–society relationship that I call “consultative authoritarianism,” which encourages the simultaneous expansion of a fairly autonomous civil society and the development of more indirect tools of state control. This model challenges the conventional wisdom that an operationally autonomous civil society cannot exist inside authoritarian regimes and that the presence of civil society is an indicator of democratization.

Keywords

Chinacivil societyauthoritarian politicspolicy learning
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 213 , March 2013 , pp. 19 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Blyth, Mark. 1997. “Any more bright ideas? The ideational turn of comparative political economy.” Comparative Politics 29(1), 229–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bo, Zhiyue, and Chen, Gang. 2009. “Global financial crisis and the voice of the New Left in China.” East Asian Institute Background Brief 443.Google Scholar
Cai, Hongbin, and Treisman, Daniel. 2002. “State corroding federalism.” Journal of Public Economics 88, 819–843.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, Heath. 1993. “On the search for civil society in China.” Modern China 19, 199–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Anita, and Unger, Jonathan. 1995. “China, corporatism, and the East Asian model.” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 33, 29–53Google Scholar
Chen, Qiao. 2011. “Minzheng bu: gongyi cishan lei di san lei shehui zuzhi you wang zhijie dengji” (Ministry of civil affairs: sees potential for three types of social organizations to register directly). Beijing shibao. 24 May.Google Scholar
China Daily. 2010. “Beijing's population exceeds 22 million.” 26 February.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 1994. “Rethinking civil society: toward democratic consolidation.” Journal of Democracy 5, 4–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, Kenneth. 2001. “Associations in the embrace of an authoritarian state: state domination of society?” Studies in Comparative International Development 35: 84–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Peter. 2009. “China's ant tribe: millions of unemployed college grads.” The Christian Science Monitor, 21 December.Google Scholar
Frazier, Mark W. 2010. Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Geisselmann, Joern and Warmer, Christine. 2009. “Public participation in China's municipal affairs.” D + C Development and Cooperation Tribune 294–296.Google Scholar
Han, Heng, and Xiaoguang, Kang. 2005. “Fenlei kongzhi: dangqian Zhongguo dalu guojia yu shehui guanxi yanjiu” (“Differentiated control: current state and society relationship research in mainland China”). Shehuixui yanjiu 6. http://www.chinareform.net/2010/0116/8243.html.Google Scholar
Ho, Peter. 2001. “Greening without conflict? Environmentalism, NGOs and civil society in China.” Development and Change 32, 893–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Jude. 1995. “Prospects for NGOs in China.” Development in Practice 5(1), 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, Jude. 2004. “New directions in civil society: organizing around marginalized interests.” In Howell, Jude, ed. Governance in China. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 143–171.Google Scholar
Howell, Jude and Pearce, Jenny. 2002. Civil Society and Development: a Critical Exploration. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
HsiaRenee Yuen-Jan, and Lynn Renee Yuen-Jan, and LynnWhite III, T.. 2002. “Working amid corporatism and confusion: foreign NGOs in China.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 31, 329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Yasheng. 2011. “Rethinking the Beijing consensus,” Asia Policy 11, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, Andrew. 2011. “Chinese security officials respond to call for protests.” New York Times, 21 February.Google Scholar
Jing, Yijia, and Savas, E.S.. 2009. “Managing collaborative service delivery: comparing China and the United States.” Public Administration Review 69 (supplement) 101–07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landry, Pierre. 2003. “The political management of mayors in post-Deng China.” The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies 17, 31–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le, Zou. 2011. “NGO registration rules to be relaxed nationwide: civil affairs minister.” Global Times, 25 May.Google Scholar
Lee, Colleen. 2010. “Special political zones,” The Standard, 7 September.Google Scholar
Li, David D. 2006. “Large domestic non-intermediated investments and government liabilities: challenges facing China's financial sector reform.” World Bank working paper.Google Scholar
Li, He. 2010. “Debating China's economic reform: new Leftists vs. liberals.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 15, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lian, Yuming. 2010. “Shehui zuzhi de ruoshi diwei jidai gaibian” (“The weak position of social organizations must be changed”). Beijing Ribao. 20 September.Google Scholar
Lu, Yiyi. 2007. “The autonomy of Chinese NGOs: a new perspective.” China: an International Journal 5, 173–203.Google Scholar
Ma, Qiusha. 2002. “The governance of NGOs in China since 1978: how much autonomy?” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 31, 305–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathews, Jessica. 1997. “Power shift: the rise of global civil society.” Foreign Affairs 76, January/February.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mertha, Andrew. 2009. “‘Fragmented authoritarianism 2.0’: political pluralization in the Chinese policy process.” The China Quarterly 200, 995–1012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishra, Pankaj. 2006. “China's New Leftist.” The New York Times Magazine, 15 October.Google Scholar
Nathan, Andrew. 2003. “Authoritarian resilience.” Journal of Democracy 14 (1), 6–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
New York Times. 2010. “Freedom and Human Rights in China.” 1 March.Google Scholar
Oi, Jean. 1992. “Fiscal reform and the economic foundations of local state corporatism in China.” World Politics 45, 99–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, Albert, Rozelle, Scott, Wong, Christine and Ren, Changqing. 1996. “Distributional consequences of reforming local public finance in China.” The China Quarterly 147, 751–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qian, Yingyi, and Weingast, Barry. 1996. “China's transition to markets: market-preserving federalism, Chinese style.” Journal of Economic Policy Reform 1, 149–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saich, Tony. 2000. “Negotiating the state: the development of social organizations in China.” The China Quarterly 161, 124–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saich, Tony. 2007. “Citizens' perceptions of governance in rural and urban China.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 12, 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, Lester. 1994. “The rise of the nonprofit sector.” Foreign Affairs July/August.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, Lester, and Anheier, Helmut K.. 1996. The Emerging Not-For-Profit Sector: An Overview. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Sanyal, Bishwapriya. 1994. “Cooperative Autonomy: The Dialectic of State-NGOs Relationship in Developing Countries.” International Institute for Labour Studies.Google Scholar
Simon, Karla. 2009. “Regulation of civil society in China: necessary changes after the Olympic Games and the Sichuan earthquake.” Fordham International Law Journal 32 (3).Google Scholar
Tanner, Murray Scot. 2004. “China rethinks unrest.” The Washington Quarterly 27, 137–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TASS. 2005. “Putin, Hu Jintao to say monopoly in international affairs inadmissible.” 28 June.Google Scholar
Wang, Hui. 2001. “Contemporary Chinese thought and the question of modernity.” In Zhang, Xudong (ed.) Whither China? Intellectual Politics in Contemporary China. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 161–197.Google Scholar
Wang, Jisi. 2011. “China's search for a grand strategy subtitle: a rising great power finds its way.” Foreign Affairs March/April.Google Scholar
Wang, Shaoguang. 2006. “Money and autonomy: patterns of civil society finance and their implications.” Studies in Comparative International Development 40 (4): 3–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Shaoguang, and He, Jianyu. 2004. “Associational revolution in China: mapping the landscapes.” Korea Observer 35 (3), 485–532.Google Scholar
Wang, Sibin. 2011. “Social service innovation and embedded growth of civil society.” Paper presented at the Civil Society and Harmonious Society conference, Beijing, China, June 2011.Google Scholar
Whiting, Susan. 2001. Power and Wealth in Rural China: The Political Economy of Institutional Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wong, Christine. 2007. “Budget reform in China.” OECD Journal on Budgeting 7(1), 33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiong, Wei, and Meng, Qin. 2008. “Lun Zhongguo NGO bentu nengli de kunjing he chulu” (An analysis of Chinese NGO's weak capacity and solution to this predicament.” Zhongguo sixiang wang, http://admin.sinoth.com/Doc/article/2008/1/24/server/1000010601.htm, accessed 17 June 2008.Google Scholar
Yang, Dali. 2004. Remaking the Chinese Leviathan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, Deyong. 2009. “China's attitude toward foreign NGOs.” Washington University Global Studies Law Review 8 (3).Google Scholar
Young, Nick and Qian, Tina. 2006. “Listening to the community is the main ingredient in Chinese NGO recipe for city governments.” China Development Brief, 2 March.Google Scholar
Zhou, Benshun. 2011. “Zou Zhongguo tese shehui guanli chuangxin zhi lu” (“Social management of innovation with Chinese characteristics”) Qiushi 10.Google Scholar