Learning Under Authoritarianism: Strategic Adaptations Within International Foundations and NGOs in China
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Learning Under Authoritarianism: Strategic Adaptations Within International Foundations and NGOs in China Stephen Noakes1 . Jessica C. Teets2
© International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2017
Abstract Within the field of international relations, scholarship supports the notion that international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) and foundations, as a part of transnational civil society, influence state policy and behaviors, while the causal effects of state influence on INGOs is less researched. By contrast, the co-constitutive roles of states and INGOs are well established in thirdsector research. Seeking to extend these literatures and bring them into conversation more with one another, this article explores the process of state influence on INGOs and foundations in the context of China, a strong, resiliently authoritarian state. We argue that three strategic adaptations by INGOs emerge as a pragmatic response to operating within China’s authoritarian institutions, such as (1) learning to focus mostly on policymakers rather than citizens, (2) collaboration with local governments on policy experimentation as the primary advocacy method, and (3) the adoption of strategies to hedge against potential risks of operating without a protected legal status, such as only collaborating with the grassroots NGOs properly registered with state authorities. In some cases, these adaptations catalyzed larger organizational changes. Our findings indicate that socialization processes can affect both INGOs and states, and thus serve to highlight the difficult trade-
& Stephen Noakes [email protected] Jessica C. Teets [email protected] 1
Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, ARTS 1 - Bldg 206, Level 4, Room 427, 14A Symonds St, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
2
Political Science, Middlebury College, Munroe Hall 318, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA
offs faced by INGOs engaging strong authoritarian governments such as China. Further, they suggest that, in a world of seemingly resurgent authoritarian governance, restricting legal and policy space for INGOs may be moot, since INGOs working inside these states are influenced to comply with domestic rules, norms, and practices. Keywords China · INGOs · Foundations · Authoritarianism · Corporatism
Introduction In the international relation literature beginning in the 1990s, INGOs were viewed as a central component of “global civil society” that promised to remake world order by challenging conventional notions of power in the international system. At the heart of this role was the ability of INGOs to shape state behavior through persuasion and principled ideas (Price 2003; Florini 2000; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Risse et al. 1999). The literature on norm entrepreneurship, for example, emphasizes the role of these organizations in persuading states to adopt new viewpoints and policies (Acharya 2012; Finnemore and Sikkink 1998; Finnemore 1996). As carriers of principled norms, INGOs were cast as potential ag
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