Troubled Corporatism: The Chinese State-NGO Coalition and its Challenged Social Improvement Agenda

• In Event: 4367 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 10. Political Sociology

Abstract

Against the background of the recent reconsolidation of authoritarianism, this article examines the emerging corporatism formed between the Chinese state and grassroots NGOs. Attempting to keep social unrests at bay with limited personnel and expertise, the Chinese local state seeks to incorporate grassroots NGOs to establish social service programs that aims to improve the livelihood of marginalized populations, such as internal migrant workers; on the other hand, cut off from overseas funding and facing increasing political risks, NGOs collaborate with the state for resources and endorsement. Based on participant observation and interview data, this comparative case study illustrates two models through which the state-NGO coalition is formed and how, in each model, different state logics shape the designs of state-sponsored, NGO-run social programs. In the top-down model of state deployment, social programs are established by fitting in with standardized measurements on public tender paperwork at the cost of the local knowledge of the served community; in the bottom-up model of grassroots advocacy, by contrast, social programs take advantage of their community engagement to stand out before state officials as political showcases. By contrasting these two models, this article concludes that the emerging corporatism is troubled by a dilemma: the state deployment model pursues universality while sacrificing efficacy, whereas programs based on grassroots advocacy are effective but difficult to apply across-the-board.

Author

• Thomas Peng, University of California, Berkeley