21 research outputs found
The construction and performance of citizenship in contemporary China
Citizenship education has been an explicit part of the universal education system in contemporary China. Using data from an original nationwide survey conducted in 2018, this study tests the hypothesis that the longer the intensity of exposure to citizenship education, the more citizens are influenced by a state-led conception of citizenship characterized by passive obedience and loyalty to the state. The study finds mixed results in that citizenship education is effective at lower educational levels, but at higher levels it is not only less effective, but instead may foster (or at minimum, does not deter) more active conceptions of citizenship
Citizens’ expectations for crisis management and the involvement of civil society organizations in China
Chinese citizens are relatively happy with the state's management of national disasters and emergencies. However, they are increasingly concluding that the state alone cannot manage them. Leveraging the 2018 and 2020 Civic Participation in China Surveys, we find that more educated citizens conclude that the government has a leading role in crisis management, but there is ample room for civil society organisations (CSOs) to act in a complementary fashion. On a slightly diverging path, volunteers who have meaningfully interacted with CSOs are more skeptical than non-volunteers about CSOs’ organisational ability to fulfill this crisis management function. These findings imply that the political legitimacy of the Communist Party of China is not challenged by allowing CSOs a greater role in crisis management
The Rise of Foundations: Hope for Grassroots Civil Society in China?
Over the past decade, the not-for-profit foundation sector has grown rapidly in China. This expansion has occurred as international foundations and organisations were withdrawing funding from Chinese grassroots NGOs, causing many civil society leaders to put their hopes into domestic foundations as a way to close their deficit of funding. But can the rise of foundations in China really replace the evaporating foreign grants for domestic NGOs
The Rise of Foundations: Hope for Grassroots Civil Society in China?
Over the past decade, the not-for-profit foundation sector has grown rapidly in China. This expansion has occurred as international foundations and organisations were withdrawing funding from Chinese grassroots NGOs, causing many civil society leaders to put their hopes into domestic foundations as a way to close their deficit of funding. But can the rise of foundations in China really replace the evaporating foreign grants for domestic NGOs
WORKING WITHIN THE SYSTEM - Teresa Wright: Accepting Authoritarianism: State-Society Relations in China's Reform Era. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010. Pp. ix, 253. $24.95.)
The Fight for China's Future: Civil Society vs. the Chinese Communist Party Willy Wo-Lap Lam London and New York: Routledge, 2020 xii + 234 pp. ÂŁ34.99 ISBN 978-0-367-18869-6
Volunteerism and democratic learning in an authoritarian state: the case of China
Extant literature on civic participation in Western democracies demonstrates a linear relationship between increased civic participation and a stronger democracy. In general, the scholarly debate revolves around the precise causal mechanisms for this relationship: holding government accountable; citizens learning “democratic skills”, such as collective mobilization and advocacy; and, building social capital and trust to overcome the dilemma of collective action. Given rapidly increasing volunteerism in China, this study tests these theories in a single-party authoritarian system using evidence from the 2020 Civic Participation in China Survey. The study finds that volunteers in China do learn “citizen skills”; however, these differ from those learned by volunteers in democracies. Foremost, while volunteering allows for authoritarian citizens to learn and differentiate channels most appropriate for addressing specific social problems, they generally do not try to directly hold their government accountable for poor performance. Additionally, the study finds limited support that volunteers are seeking to develop trust in other citizens, contra evidence from Western democracies. Finally, the results suggest that volunteers are participating as a means to send signals to the state that they are emerging local community leaders. These findings have important implications for increasing civic participation in authoritarian regimes