Civil Society In China: Chipping away at the edges
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Thematic Section
Civil Society In China: Chipping away at the edges
JUDE HOWELL
ABSTRACT Jude Howell traces the development of civil society in China over the last three decades, drawing particular attention to the most recent phase of independent organizing from the mid-1990s onwards. She highlights the factors that have shaped the growth of independent organizing, noting the importance of the state, market and external forces and reflects on what this means for governance and civil society processes in China.1 KEYWORDS governance; state; society; Party; NGOs; public sphere
Introduction Now the fourth largest economy in the world and major exporter of key manufacturing goods, China has in just three decades emerged as a global economic giant. Ironically it is the Chinese Communist Party that has spearheaded this embrace of the market, while at the same time constraining the pace of political reform. Though China remains authoritarian, the spaces for more independent organizing have opened up considerably since 1978. The contours of these spaces have fluctuated with the ebb and flow of central politics and the positioning of the state towards the economy and society. The proliferation of independent organizations in the late 1980s led scholars to talk in terms of an emerging civil society in China that might be the engine of democratic regime change. Such normative aspirations were shattered by the events of1989. Subsequent studies of China’s social organizations underlined their deep links with the Party/state and the stunting effects of the corporatist regulatory framework. However, recent developments in civil society suggest that the hold of the Party/state over society is not as tight as either the government or external observers often maintain.
Emergence of civil society in China The introduction of economic reforms in China has brought about fundamental changes in the structure of society, including the pluralization and diversification of social interests, increased social differentiation and stratification, the breakdown of rigid rural^urban barriers and new forms of associational life. Aware of the need for new institutional mechanisms to‘bridge’the Party/state and society, the Chinese Communist Party from the 1980s onwards encouraged the development of new forms of association Development (2007) 50(3), 17–23. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100416
Development 50(3): Thematic Section
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such as professional associations, trades associations, learned societies, cultural and sports clubs. Furthermore, in the context of a more general re-organization and streamlining of the state in the direction of ‘small government, large society’ (xiao zhengfu, da shehui), the Party/ state urged these new intermediary bodies to take on former state functions, such as the daily regulation of specific trades and the provision of social welfare. New ‘social organizations’ (shehui zuzhi), the official term coined to describe these new entities, grew rapidly from the mid-1980s, reaching a peak in 1989. Following the
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