Does the New Reform of NGOs’ Management Lead to Co-governance in China? Evidence from Business Associations Reform in Shanghai

• In Event: The NGOs Governance in China: Diverse Perspectives During the Xi Era

Abstract

After 18th CPC National Congress, China launched a new round of reform to improve the National governance system and governance capability, among which NGOs’ management reform is thought to be of great help to the development of Co-governance between governments and society. This article analyzes the influence of the NGOs’ management reform on the co-governance on the base of a survey on business associations in Shanghai, and finds out that the reform of “registering directly”, “one industry, not only one association” and “separation from governments” makes the business association no longer dependent on government in five aspects of function, organizing, finance, human resource, party building and foreign affairs, and to some extent releases the administrative control on them. On the other hand, the reform also strengthens the control from CPC on the business association, and reduces the chances for them to cooperate with governments. In all, this new round of reform changes the traditional model of government-NGOs relationship, while does not optimize the cooperation environments. At last, we conclude in this article that the civil society in China is still under a rigid control from an authoritarian regime and the co-governance between government and civil society is a policy rather than an action.

Authors

• Xiaoqing Song, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics

• Jun Zhou, East China Normal University