New Opportunities or Old Obstacles? China’s 2016 Charity Law and its Implications for Civil Society

• In Event: 4322 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Political Sociology of China

Abstract

With the passage of China’s first Charity Law in March 2016, Chinese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) entered a new and unprecedented era of legal regulation, one that dramatically transforms the formal rules governing state-civil society relations. This article highlights problems experienced under earlier regulations and outlines the major features of the new law. Drawing on grassroots NGO responses to the law’s initial public drafts, the article highlights gaps between NGO leaders’ understandings of their work and several of the law’s key provisions, revealing civil society’s skepticism and pessimism about prospects for change. It concludes by considering the law’s likely implications for civil society development in China and cautions against overestimating its impact on space for NGOs.

Author

• Anthony J. Spires, University of Melbourne