Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The Rise of Consultative Authoritarianism in China
TL;DR: In this article, the authors 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, and find growing convergence on a new model of state-society relationship that they call consultative authoritarianism, which encourages the simultaneous expansion of a fairly autonomous civil society and the development of more indirect tools of state control.
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.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a more comprehensive meaning of the term "good governance", which is defined as "the totality of processes and arrangements, both formal and informal, by which power and public authority are distributed and regulated".
Abstract: Governance in China, edited by Jude Howell. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. xiv + 279 pp. US$75.00 (hardcover), US$27.95 (paperback). The term governance is "contested", says Jude Howell in the introduction to this new edited book, "and the juxtaposition of 'good' augments the evaluative nature of the concept" (p. 1). Rather than employ the usual normative, institutional and managerial definition of the term (good governance is transparent, predictable, accountable and participatory) that has been suggested by international agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Howell suggests a more comprehensive meaning: "the totality of processes and arrangements, both formal and informal, by which power and public authority are distributed and regulated". From this premise the book sets out to analyze some of these processes. The book can be divided roughly into three parts. The first three chapters-by Joseph Fewsmith on the elite politics of China's reforms, John P. Burns on civil service reform and Zhu Sanzhu on the privatization of lawyers' services-deal with governance in the "usual" way, looking at the impact of major reforms on the ability of the Chinese government and its institutions to improve performance and become more predictable, accountable and so on. The next six chapters elaborate on Howell's extended version of governance, and investigate the marketization of culture (Michale Kaene), new self-government institutions in rural villages (Linda Jakobson) and in the urban residential neighborhoods (Zhang Jing), and civilsociety organizations representing marginal interests (Howell) and women (Du Jie). The final two chapters are on the challenges that the working class (Marc Blecher) and such religious organizations as the Falun Gong (Clemens Stubbe Ostergaard) present to the Party's ability to govern effectively in the face of societal discontent. The book is a welcome contribution to the existing literature on contemporary China. It will be a useful textbook for teachers examining Chinese society and politics, and the readable style and informative content of most of the essays will also attract a readership among public administrators, NGOs and policy makers. However, while the book offers insights into many specific aspects of power arrangements in China, the use of "governance" in such a broad social and political perspective raises some questions. Conceptually, the above-mentioned four generally accepted parameters of governance define a limited-and almost objective-field of investigation where "goodness" can be measured on the basis of rigid criteria borrowed from management textbooks and from the idea of "corporate governance". …
164 citations
TL;DR: Consultative authoritarianism challenges existing conceptions of nondemocratic governance as discussed by the authors, and citizen participation channels are designed to improve policymaking and increase feelings of regime respon- t...
Abstract: Consultative authoritarianism challenges existing conceptions of nondemocratic governance. Citizen participation channels are designed to improve policymaking and increase feelings of regime respon...
146 citations
Book•
09 Jun 2014TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors argue that interactions between local officials and civil society facilitate a learning process, whereby each actor learns about the intentions and work processes of the other, and this duality motivates local officials in China to construct a'social management' system, known as consultative authoritarianism, to encourage the beneficial aspects and discourage the dangerous ones.
Abstract: Despite the dominant narrative of the repression of civil society in China, Civil Society under Authoritarianism: The China Model argues that interactions between local officials and civil society facilitate a learning process, whereby each actor learns about the intentions and work processes of the other. Over the past two decades, often facilitated by foreign donors and problems within the general social framework, these interactions generated a process in which officials learned the benefits and disadvantages of civil society. Civil society supports local officials' efforts to provide social services and improve public policies, yet it also engages in protest and other activities that challenge social stability and development. This duality motivates local officials in China to construct a 'social management' system - known as consultative authoritarianism - to encourage the beneficial aspects and discourage the dangerous ones.
142 citations
Book•
15 Jun 2017TL;DR: In this article, Repnikova reveals the webs of an uneasy partnership between critical journalists and the state in China, highlighting the distinctiveness of Chinese journalist-state relations, as well as the renewed pressures facing them in the Xi era.
Abstract: Who watches over the party-state? In this engaging analysis, Maria Repnikova reveals the webs of an uneasy partnership between critical journalists and the state in China. More than merely a passive mouthpiece or a dissident voice, the media in China also plays a critical oversight role, one more frequently associated with liberal democracies than with authoritarian systems. Chinese central officials cautiously endorse media supervision as a feedback mechanism, as journalists carve out space for critical reporting by positioning themselves as aiding the agenda of the central state. Drawing on rare access in the field, Media Politics in China examines the process of guarded improvisation that has defined this volatile partnership over the past decade on a routine basis and in the aftermath of major crisis events. Combined with a comparative analysis of media politics in the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, the book highlights the distinctiveness of Chinese journalist-state relations, as well as the renewed pressures facing them in the Xi era.
96 citations
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TL;DR: The authors analyzes the incentives that have led to the development of local state corporatism and rapid rural industrialization, and describes the ways in which local governments coordinate economic activity and reallocate revenues from industrial production.
Abstract: In the 1980s fiscal reform in China provided localities with strong incentives and a heightened capacity to pursue industrial growth. As a result, local governments have responded vigorously to economic reform, managing rural collective-owned enterprises as diversified corporations, with local officials performing the role of a board of directors. This article analyzes the incentives that have led to the development of this form of local state corporatism and rapid rural industrialization, and it describes the ways in which local governments coordinate economic activity and reallocate revenues from industrial production. These developments are important for two reasons: they show that local government involvement in the economy does not necessarily decline with the expansion of market coordination; and they offer a successful model of reform that serves as a counterpoint to privatization proposals.
1,141 citations
"Let Many Civil Societies Bloom: The..." refers background in this paper
...…online forums and resources.70 These groups and practices have proliferated to such as extent that the director of one group engaged in linking civil society actors across regions argues that the official federations now view grassroots groups as policy and resource 65 Oi 1992; Chan and Unger 1995....
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936 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the rules of the policy-making process are still captured by the fragmented authoritarianism framework, but that the process has become increasingly pluralized: barriers to entry have been lowered, at least for certain actors (hitherto peripheral officials, non-governmental organizations and the media) identified here as "policy entrepreneurs".
Abstract: Traditional analyses of political liberalization in China focus on elections or other facets of democratization. But they cannot account for the fact that although China remains authoritarian, it is nevertheless responsive to the increasingly diverse demands of Chinese society. I argue that the rules of the policy-making process are still captured by the fragmented authoritarianism framework, but that the process has become increasingly pluralized: barriers to entry have been lowered, at least for certain actors (hitherto peripheral officials, non-governmental organizations and the media) identified here as “policy entrepreneurs.” With policy change as the variable of interest, I compare three cases of hydropower policy outcomes. I argue that policy entrepreneurs' ability to frame the issue effectively explains variation in hydropower policy outcomes. I then extend these findings to an unlikely policy area, international trade, specifically, the 2001–06 Sino-EU trade talks over child-resistant lighter safety regulations.
589 citations
TL;DR: The upshot is a global third sector: a massive array of self-governing private organizations, not dedicated to distributing profits to shareholders or directors, pursuing public purposes outside the formal apparatus of the state as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A striking upsurge is under way around the globe in organized voluntary activity and the creation of private, nonprofit or non governmental organizations. From the developed countries of North America, Europe and Asia to the developing societies of Africa, Latin America and the former Soviet bloc, people are forming associations, foundations and similar institutions to deliver human services, pro mote grass-roots economic development, prevent environmental degradation, protect civil rights and pursue a thousand other objec tives formerly unattended or left to the state. The scope and scale of this phenomenon are immense. Indeed, we are in the midst of a global "associational revolution" that may prove to be as significant to the latter twentieth century as the rise of the nation state was to the latter nineteenth. The upshot is a global third sector: a massive array of self-governing private organizations, not dedicated to distributing profits to shareholders or directors, pursuing public purposes outside the formal apparatus of the state. The proliferation of these groups may be permanently altering the relationship between states and citizens, with an impact extending far beyond the material services they provide. Virtually all of America's major social move ments, for example, whether civil rights, environmental, consumer, women's or conservative, have had their roots in the nonprofit sector.
568 citations