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The People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) (Taiwan) have taken divergent paths in the area of human rights. Since the two leaders Xi Jinping and Tsai Ing-wen came to power, the differences in the area of human rights have further increased. The paper analyses and compares their external human rights strategies based on realist assumptions and the soft and hard power resources of the PRC and the ROC. The PRC's objectives are to deflect international criticism of its human rights situation and to weaken the global human rights system and its underlying human rights norms. Taiwan's objective is to use its record as a human rights leader in Asia to expand its limited international space and to strengthen its ties with other consolidated democracies and the global civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the development of e-government in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paper conceptualizes a political economy framework for evaluating the development of e-government in the PRC by integrating socio-economic approaches for the study of state in terms of maximizing service quality and enhancing economy and cost-efficiency, as well as using a model of democracy which sees political deliberation and participation as the potential for the development of a civic society. It argues that while researchers actually aim at capturing a picture of politico-economic development of the states through a close examination of their digital arms, e-governments, their frameworks to examine the latter, are out of the political or economic focus: that is, these conceptual frameworks are simply a mismatch to what they would like to explicate. With a new model applied to the PRC's e-government of the central authorities, we find out that the PRC's egovernment is highly tinted toward a service model, and if any political function that a certain e-government of a certain bureau has to carry out, it is an ideological propaganda or its equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Autocratic control of civil society, including academia, can be extended to democratic societies and institutions in ways that pose threats to liberal-democratic values, such as academic freedom, for example through mechanisms and practices that lead to academic self-censorship. Engaging critically with the literature on 'sharp power' and 'authoritarian influencing' addressing this phenomenon, this paper argues that democratic actors who, without sharing the repressive goals of autocracies, contribute to their success in settings of international collaboration and exchange can become structurally complicit with such wrongs. Recognizing the risk of complicity is a necessary first step towards addressing the political responsibilities resulting from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I conduct a comparative analysis of three Chinese experiments with participatory budgeting (PB), a democratic innovation that has circulated worldwide. Relying on a renewed typology of political representation and ethnographic fieldwork combined with official data collection in Chengdu, Sichuan and Wenling, Zhejiang over seven years, it investigates the expansion and practice of PB and analyzes the relationship between participation and representation. It asserts that in the Chinese context PB cannot be simply reduced to empowering civil society against established representatives or becoming an instrument of legitimization for established elites. In the three investigated cases—which are not representative of Chinese local politics—PB does contribute to opening the decision-making process to formerly excluded participants, who are nonetheless not exactly ordinary citizens but rather local elites and "super residents" bridging the gap between established elites and residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the different styles of anti-corruption strategy, particularly at the local level in China and India. In China there has been a central push with a role of anti-corruption agencies that have law-enforcement power. In India there has been a focus on institutional building together with a visible role of the civil society. China has had a top-down approach while India has more of a bottom-up approach combined with top-down initiatives such as demonetization. Interviews with 44 mid-career and senior officials investigate the two approaches and the impacts of anti-corruption measures in China and India. Interviewees support the approaches adopted by China and India but doubt their effectiveness and sustainability. The way forward, they suggest, is to reduce the influence of political parties especially in India and to enhance e-governance in both countries. Experiences of the two countries have significant implications especially on capacity building, institutional development, and law enforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental activism and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are not limited to major cities, but have gradually taken root in provincial and local politics in China. This paper compares the development and characteristics of environmental activism in Guangdong province and Guangxi autonomous region, with the aim of shedding light on the causes of regional disparities in this field. With extensive and strong ties to peer organizations across issue areas within the province, grassroots environmental groups in Guangdong have grown as an integral part of local civil society. They have survived, through mutual-support, on a larger scale than those in Guangxi. Also, with a higher level of networking and capacity, environmental NGOs in Guangdong are more able to utilize the new opportunities offered by recent institutional reforms in social management and environmental protection in the province. The paper, thus, challenges the argument that over-emphasizes the domination of the state and points out that inter-organizational partnerships and the overall maturity of the civil society sector contribute most to the uneven development of grassroots environmental activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation in 2006, China's renewed interest in Africa has garnered a lot of attention and generated a lot of debate. Western media and analysts have, perhaps not surprisingly, been generally very critical of China's rising influence in Africa. The African reaction, however, has been more mixed. African leaders have welcomed what they see as a new approach to development and increased potential for meaningful South-South co-operation. African civil society groups have been more cautious and are worried about the possible negative repercussions on governance, the environment, human rights and overall economic development. This paper focuses on Chinese foreign aid to Africa and discusses the opportunities and challenges that it presents for China, the African continent, and the international community. This allows the uncovering of many misconceptions regarding the potential impact (whether positive or negative) of this renewed interest by different parties. The paper argues that if one adopts an approach that puts ordinary Africans first, at the centre of development, then the only option available to us is to engage China in a constructive partnership in order to make its aid effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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During the past decade, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has pursued a strategy of “extending governance” to the public by creating formal public participation channels and promoting environmental transparency. Rather than representing a normative end in their own right, these features of “good governance” are being used instrumentally by the political executive to enlist public support in enforcing environmental regulations, and to depoliticise dissent by channelling it through legal mechanisms. This paper examines how environmental non-governmental organisations and “not-in-my-backyard” movements strategically interact with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and its good governance rhetoric to promote their own objectives. At the same time, it argues that unintended consequences have emerged as Chinese citizens increasingly assert their participatory and transparency “rights.” By appropriating instrumental good governance policies to their own advantage, citizens define concepts such as participation and transparency on their own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chinese environmental groups have become increasingly active in the past few years and have begun to make an impact on environmental governance. The paper analyses the recent development of Chinese environmental civil society, the way it operates, and the challenges ahead, which include the need for environmental NGOs to improve their technical capacity, to strengthen further the collaboration between different organizations, and to strike a balance between maintaining domestic support and meeting international concerns. The biggest challenge ahead for environmental civil society is to develop the necessary skills to tackle the broader political, economic, and social issues that underlie environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the Chinese Communist Party’s “Core Socialist Values” (shèhuì zhŭyì héxīn jiàzhíguān) to show how each of these twelve values is defined, both independently and in relation to others. Using a Gramscian analytical approach, the article examines how a Chinese “integral state” is being prepared to ensure that consensus to the state’s proscribed values is not undermined by competing discourses. Consideration is given to how civil society becomes the ground for building consensus, reinforced by coercive strategies emanating from the Chinese state. In conclusion, the paper argues that the Core Socialist Values campaign represents a shift in focus under the current Xi Jinping Administration to emphasize the superstructure over the economic base, with the objective of creating citizens of and for the People’s Republic of China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines information diffusion and the follower network among a group of Sina Weibo users interested in homeowner associations. Using social network analysis techniques, this paper explores the network structure, the formation of follower relations and information diffusion. It reveals that micro-blogging is an important online platform because it can conveniently and inexpensively foster public online issue-networks beyond geographical boundaries. Specifically, Weibo has the potential to enable cross-province networking and communication, although geographical proximity is still at work; the trustworthiness of micro-blog users indirectly contributes to information diffusion by facilitating the formation of follower relations; and issue-specific follower networks facilitate information diffusion pertinent to the issue at stake. These findings suggest that micro-blogging services might have long-term effects on collective action by fostering issue-networks among civil society organizations or activists in different provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China’s rapid economic growth has resulted in extensive damage to water resources in rural areas. The Amity Foundation’s studies of six villages in two of China’s poorest provinces, Guizhou and Guangxi, indicate that clean-water projects led to a marked decrease in the incidence of diarrhoea, especially in downstream villages. Such initiatives have strengthened the existing technical and institutional infrastructure in the villages. The paper calls for sustaining such interventions through adequate legislation and policies that improve infrastructure, integrate various departments, regulate diverse water uses and facilitate the involvement of civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the controversy over China's Three Gorges Dam to examine the interaction between the Chinese state and transnational civil society that has unfolded in the global arena. It uses the human rights disputes and the emergent Chinese “hydropower discourse” to explore the global politics of the dam. The conflict flared up in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. The increasing interconnectedness of the world enabled the Three Gorges technocrats to solicit global capital for the project. Transnational activists, however, mobilised opposition to the dam through public opinion forums, including the Internet, and cross-border networking to seek to constrain the Chinese government's agenda. They also championed principles of environmental protection and human rights as a challenge to the investment policies of multinational corporations. But the Chinese developmentalists insisted on a particularist interpretation of people's rights. Furthermore, dam advocates turned the tables on the opponents by appropriating the environmental principle of sustainability and forming a new “hydropower discourse.” The struggle illuminates the complex interplay of socio-political forces embedded in the global-national-local nexus of exchange. The paper addresses the tension between developmentalism and environmentalism, particular interests and universal values, and national sovereignty and global activism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China is moving towards greater rule of law and more accountable governance, including civil society participation. China's AIDS response has moved from denial to pragmatic policy. This change has come both through global influence and domestic pressure and led to adoption of many international norms for prevention, treatment, and care, sometimes in conflict with cultural attitudes and political positions. Connections between China's AIDS non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and transnational civil society organizations have contributed to transfer of new norms and approaches. Policies on sex worker rights, NGOs’ role in governance, legal protection from discrimination, compensation for some infected by medical procedures, and intellectual property rights for essential medicines have begun to change. Advocacy and expert input from domestic NGOs connected to global groups have played a role. This paper argues that these soft power processes accompanying globalization are creating inroads even in China regarding universal human rights and protection of citizen's interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past three decades have seen the resurgence of China's civil society through the blossoming of NGOs that campaign for various marginalised interests, including environmental protection. Many studies have examined the co-evolution of the Internet and China's civil society. This paper examines the role of the Internet in strengthening grassroots environmental activism, taking into consideration the corporatised character of Chinese NGOs. Through a detailed ethnographic case study of a leading grassroots environmental group, the Global Village of Beijing (GVB), I argue that Internet technologies effectively empower resource-poor activists in their self-representation, information brokering, network building, public mobilisation and construction of discourse communities. The Net therefore contributes to the nascent formation of a green public sphere in China by fostering a discourse that counterbalances rapid economic development. Also discussed here are issues that hamper this process, including resource limitations, the fragmentation of online discourse communities, and the marginalisation and “caging” of environmental discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper develops a framework for green technology foresight based on the idea of sustainability and takes the Chinese automobile industry as an example for the analysis of its implementation. First, it applies scenario techniques to identify technology requirements, considering six different visions of the future, especially the 'circulation society', the 'environment-friendly society' and the 'equity society'. Delphi techniques are used to complete the green technology foresight with an improved questionnaire and statistical model, compared with the traditional one. It is argued that green technology foresight is the evolution and extension of traditional technology foresight, and the basic idea of foresight-guided efforts to achieve sustainability should be considered not only in China, but also in other countries and in other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper throws light on the question: why did the industrial revolution happen in the West and not in China? The key to an understanding of the development of China's civilization lies in the way China historically has been characterized by a peculiar 'freeze' of the cultural-political axis of societal differentiation. It's most direct manifestation was that of a monolith state. This had implications for the cognitive matrix of society, where a modern scientific system never developed, while at the same time China's rich sources of inventions were often poorly institutionalized. These flaws were also manifest in the weakness of Chinese civil society. Historically, this development can be traced back to the Shang dynasty yet these processes reached a crystallizing moment in the Qin dynasty. In the case of Europe, two seed-bed societies, the Greek and the Germanic tribes, played the key roles in safeguarding Europe's trajectory. One essential prerequisite in this process is the lack of cultural and political hegemony characterizing Europe's history. By this token, the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of a system of fragmented Germanic kingdoms in the initial years of the Middle Ages were fundamental prerequisites for Europe's road toward an industrial revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a sustainable development approach, community tourism can be implemented in a modernized civil societywhenindividuals confront the opportunities and responsibilities of citizenship. China seems to present a series of problems to community tourism. It is in the midst of 'modernising' its norms and values, but has no civil society to counterbalance the power of the state. It enjoys the benefits of a growing economy, but is far from being regulated by the invisible hand of the market. There is intense social opposition, but there are no social movements that might lead towards building a democratic system crucial to implementing community tourism. This paper presents a case study of Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone in Sanya, Hainan Province, China, in order to explore the applicability of community tourism. The findings indicate that tremendous barriers exist to such a democratic approach in the development of the Zone despite glimmers of hope. The paper concludes that various preconditions must be established for implementing community tourism in the specific situation of the Zone. The paper also contributes to the much needed discussion of community tourism in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses shifts in governance and the re-framing of citizenship discourse in the People's Republic of China during the 1990s. Drawing upon a Sinicized Marxist-Leninism, public intellectuals and propagandists have sought to represent citizens' rights primarily as socio-economic benefits of China's reform agenda delivered by the Communist Party. This materialist articulation of citizens' rights diminishes the prospect of citizenship functioning as a mechanism for political claims against the State. However, the proclamation of rights as social benefits is in keeping with a traditional Chinese relationship between State and society whereby the former is responsible for the general welfare of the population. The citizen is thus divested of its Western political connotations and becomes a blueprint for ethical refashioning based on state goals of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the capacities of community-based labor nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in China to raise workers' consciousness and build solidarity among workers in the post-2018 era. It closely studies the transformation of a community-based labor NGO in the Yangtze River Delta and investigates the relationships among managers, workers, community members, NGO staff members, and volunteers. Although state repression and funding concerns limit the space for workers and subalterns to represent themselves and act politically in China, the internal organizational structure of labor NGOs such as this has exacerbated their stagnation. This is due to a top-down decision-making process, a lack of democratic participation and transparency, selective inclusion, a neglect of collective possibilities, and techno-social features such as social media technology. The result is maintenance of the status quo. These organizational limitations prevent community-based labor NGOs from functioning as a progressive force and turns them into marginal social forces that strive to survive and are incapable of representing workers and adjusting to workers changing needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introductory essay, the editors consider the current challenges in understanding a networked China. We consider how the digital media landscape has changed just since an earlier collection of research in 2015, subtitled 'global dynamics of digital media and civic engagement.' We take up this orienting concept of civic engagement to explore emerging mediated spaces for cultural production through global connectivities. Beyond an area studies contribution, we focus on China more broadly as a complex global assemblage: an intersection of technology, norms, and socio-cultural structures. Our contributors were invited to consider 'what' and 'where' is China, and 'how do we know China?' Along with logistical challenges of fieldwork involving constraints of geopolitics and pandemic, we encouraged an epistemic reflexivity around reliance on certain paradigms, concepts and kinds of data. This research is further complicated by sensitivities around by the very vocabulary often involved, including public, civil society, and civic engagement itself. In the search for digital China, contributors consider how to think about China and how to locate a digital China. In exploring digital production and performance of and in China, we include analyses of fandom, idols, and the curation of collective pandemic memories. Together, this collection provides a rich set of deeply researched cases and imaginative new strategies to understand how the contradictions of digital China – between connectivity and control – are playing out, with important implications for the changing nature of public life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the so-called 'association revolution', which had brought about an exponential development of NGOs in China, the rise of Social Enterprises (SE) seem to mark a new turn. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, the following article aims to understand whether the growing hybridisation of civil society involved in the development of SEs represents a global trend or a reaction to the Central State new policies. Research findings show that the elasticity of a SE identity can help organisations adapt to shifts in the macro-level political discourse of authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the emergence of transnational regimes of regulation governing labour standards and how these impact and articulate in China. Specifically, the article addresses how domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China communicate emergent regulatory norms and extend these into domestic domains, redefining how labour codes are developed and instantiated in local policy contexts and throughout the globalized value chains. It does so by adopting a qualitative case study approach to analyse how engagement with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norms transforms labour-support organizations and their roles in labour negotiations, regulation and oversight. Using a case study approached focused in the Guangdong Province of China, the findings suggest that a transnational private regulation supports the development of local NGO activity and in turn transmits norms, modes of conduct and regulation that has a fundamental impact on how labour NGOs ensconce themselves and help transmit and construct regulatory practices that govern labour practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing proliferation of bilateral strategic partnerships in and beyond the Indo-Pacific region. Yet such a partnership between Japan and New Zealand is underexplored. The central aim of this article is to fill the gap. This article first clarifies the definition of, and then provides an analytical framework for, a 'strategic partnership'. The article then analyses how these countries laid the foundation of their strategic partnership and how they have since built upon that foundation. In the implementation process of the strategic partnership, this article examines three elements: 1) the consolidation of their strategic partnership in official documents; 2) the institutionalisation of regular meetings; and 3) participation in defence and security exercises. Although the Japan-New Zealand strategic partnership is still in the early stages, this article argues that it has the potential to grow further given bipartisan support and positive perceptions in civil society in both countries. This article also analyses three factors that exert an impact on the development of their strategic partnership: China's continued assertive maritime presence, the rejuvenation of the US-New Zealand bilateral relationship, and Japan and New Zealand's ongoing commitment to the South Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and Russia provide critical insights into the nature of environmental politics under authoritarian governments. Developing a paired comparison of activism over waste management in both countries, we explore how environmental civil society interacts with the state and mobilizes social support. We find that despite greater political liberalization, NGOs in hybrid states such as Russia can still find it highly challenging to resist state pressure and introduce policy changes. In contrast, China, notwithstanding its harsher authoritarian system and the use of more repressive measures against social activism, can still be tested by a well-strategized NGO alliance. We challenge the linear logic of existing theories on environmental politics, which assume that social movements are all moving towards a defined end point (e.g. liberal democracy), and argue that environmental politics under authoritarian regimes is both dynamic and contested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the hallmarks of the Xi Jinping era in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been a sustained attack on civil society, coupled with discursive shifts that attempt to undermine the universality of human rights. This article examines Tibetan language activism in this context, looking at challenges both for and of rights. I argue that the challenge for rights – namely, the state's increasing hostility – is offset somewhat by the slow growth, transnational nature and ample resourcing of the emerging discourse of language rights among Tibetans. On the other hand, I argue that challenges of rights – namely, the differential distribution of the "right to have rights" – present a more intractable problem. I demonstrate this by showing how current discourses among Tibetans in the PRC claim rights for some languages but not others, effectively erasing the "right to have rights" of certain Tibetan populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most scholars agree that China's central authorities are no longer the sole actors controlling socio-political life in the country, few have paid adequate attention to the proactive role of China's grassroots actors, especially during critical public crises. During the 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, Chinese society was fragmented in its response. Rural authorities imposed capricious and uneven restrictions, and civil disobedience among urban residents assumed myriad guises. The degree to which state directives on virus control were implemented within rural China depended on two factors: individual villages' social structures, and how effectively political pressures were channeled from the top down. Furthermore, quarantined residents in urban areas should not be understood as passive victims, but rather as active subjects, whose diverse manifestations of civil disobedience during the crisis posed a challenge to the effectiveness of official restriction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the existing literature of citizenship studies, Hong Kong citizens are described as enterprising, depoliticized individuals. Such formulation, however, falls short in explaining the emergence and resilience of civil society activism from the mid-2000s, particularly the anti-extradition protests in 2019. This article re-examines Hong Kong's citizenship in the post-handover era from the perspective of developmental politics. We argue that Hong Kong's citizenship is the product of dynamic struggles between state and society over the city's development. After 2003, the state was driving Hong Kong towards national integration with Mainland China, and the civil society was responding to such integration with resistance and antagonism. As a result, Hong Kong's citizenship was politicized into highly contested forms of developmental citizenship. It remains uncertain as to whether and how Hong Kong's citizenship can be transformed to reconcile the state-society tensions over the city's future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has made substantial progress in transforming water governance to respond to water crises and to support rapid socio-economic development. We aim to critically and comprehensively analyze important innovations in managerial approaches, as well as new developments and associated challenges in water policies, by bringing together cutting-edge research and best practices on water resources management in contemporary China. The key lessons drawn from the transformation include improving relationships among government, market and civil society in terms of water governance, as well as introducing innovative solutions to water challenges according to the specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rise and America's global retreat have made China's role in global governance more important than ever before. By analysing Chinese (mainly academic) literature, this article studies contemporary Chinese views of global economic governance. It finds that the 2008 financial crisis is a notable point of the Chinese discourse. In addition, dialogue platforms – the G20 in particular – rather than key institutions of global economic governance such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Word Trade Organization (WTO) win overwhelming attention in the Chinese discourse. Chinese views of global economic governance also highly value the role of the state, while paying less attention to Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) and civil society. Overall, this article highlights a diverse, shifting and sometimes contradictory Chinese discourse on global economic governance, which helps to develop a more accurate understanding of China's ambition in global economic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social accountability is a concept that has been used much in development studies and democratic theory to study informal ways for civil society to achieve social change and hold governments accountable. Surprisingly, it has been far less used in social movement scholarship and we argue that social accountability, understood as a combination of answerability, legal claim attainment, and sanction, is a useful way to examine social movement outcomes in China. Social accountability directs the focus of research towards the target of protest and not only whether the protest resulted in policy changes or not. Based on field work in 2013-2015, this article examines four cases of social protests in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. In line with previous research we find that when citizen claims accord with government policies and protesters are well-organized, local authorities tend to accommodate the protesters’ claims. However, answerability and sanction do not always follow the same pattern. Answerability can be relatively high also when legal claims are unsuccessful. This means that cases that are commonly seen as unsuccessful protests because the legal demands were not accommodated may still result in partial social accountability. In addition to the presentation of original empirical findings, the study makes a theoretical contribution by linking the two research fields of social movement and social accountability, which will be of interest to a wider scholarly audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As development is no longer simply conceived of as economic growth, but also as encapsulating human development, the role of the developmental state must be rethought. Focusing on the state's ability to deliver collective goods such as welfare has become an important task for developing and developed nations alike, and nowhere is this more important than in China. Consequently, intimate connections between the political and industrial elites are no longer sufficient and may actually be counterproductive to the success of the developmental state. Diverging from traditional developmental states, China shows that incorporation of new stakeholders is not premised on principles of human development. The novelty that China brings to re-thinking and re-articulating a new developmental state framework is that the development state of the twenty-first century can create new alliances such as with non-governmental organisations to meet human development objectives, but substantive change with regards to how the state is organised is not a precondition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines religious freedom in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) using critical frame analysis of state and civil society organisations’ (CSOs) policy discourse associated with the United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The findings show how indigenous Chinese CSOs’ input to the UPR is limited. Their voice is muted, some merely mirror the rhetoric of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In contrast, international CSOs are highly critical of what they see as state failure to uphold religious freedom. The analysis reveals a significant disjuncture between the policy discourse of international CSOs and the CCP. The former’s discourse is framed in terms of: denial of rights, imprisonment, legal failings, (re-)education, torture, and persecution. In the absence of enforcement mechanisms, CCP input to the UPR can be seen as part of a process of legitimation and performativity; allowing the ruling elite to afford primacy to what it dubs ‘a framework of socialism with Chinese characteristics’ at the expense of religious freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using China and India as examples, this article analyses how different regimes influence people’s perceptions of environmental rights. In addition to a literature review and fieldwork, it looks at two documentaries reporting environmental movements in rural China and rural India to investigate the politics of expression in their environmental arenas. In order to enrich the understanding of the grassroots movements in the two countries, the study examines how their common people differ from middle-class activists in the way in which they participate and make alliances in civil society. The findings suggest that the Indian campaigners tend to seek allies in civil society in order to formulate a joint voice in the public sphere, while the Chinese campaigners aim to gain assistance directly from official institutions. The poor communication among the public may result in a shortage of critical discourses in support of people’s movements and weaknesses in the legitimacy of public participation in the environmental arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares American, British, and Chinese news coverage of Internet privacy policies. Specifically, we examine media discourse about the “real-name” policies established by Facebook and Weibo. We find that U.S. and UK news coverage of Internet privacy policy is broadly similar, when compared with the more authoritarian–corporatist media system in China. British and U.S. newspapers were much more independent from state control, and were able to maintain a more critical stance than the Chinese newspapers. But there were additional factors that shaped the patterns in news discourse in complicated ways, which are related to (a) the difference between domestic and international news genres, (b) specific narratives about national identity, and (c) more general discourses about civil society, democracy, and the public good. We suggest that the range of comparative media research can be extended by paying attention to how these cultural factors interact with media system dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular protest, civil society organizing, and non-governmental organizations have become notable features in China’s socio-political development. A mounting body of research has documented both opening opportunity structures and remaining restrictions when it comes to collective action within the authoritarian state. However, given the wide range of definitions and interpretations that are at play in the literature, it can be difficult to distinguish between different forms of collective action and determine which actions represent actual movements. This article argues that a refocus towards the basic components that constitute movement action can provide more clarity and help explain the limitations, as well as the opportunities, that surround collective action within authoritarian states. To illustrate, the article studies the organizational growth, networking, and collective action that have occurred in connection with AIDS in China. It finds that political restrictions and other coordination challenges prevent the mobilization of actual social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AIDS-related work and advocacy is one field that has spurred considerable activity among Chinese NGOs in the past two decades. This article explains processes leading to institutional changes that are necessary for allowing more NGOs to emerge and operate, and shows how international, domestic and local actors and influences have steered developments leading to organisational growth. The article applies new institutionalism theory and highlights differences between formal and informal institutions in explaining change and continuity for NGOs and their relations to state and government in this particular field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal mobilization has spread in China over the past 20 years and is generally considered by both activists and scholars as a way to advance democracy and rule of law. Focusing on the mobilization in favour of migrant workers and on politically moderate practices, which are both more frequent and widely held as more successful, I argue to the contrary that resistance and reproduction of political domination are mutually constitutive. Public interest litigation and administrative litigation appear as new forms of political participation that constitute an internal regulation to the authoritarian regime, thus contributing to explain the regime's capacity to adapt and its durability. This article also accounts for new strategies developed by some lawyers that shun the courts and use law to ‘empower civil society’ and that thus do not contribute to structural reproduction. Though activists are struggling to turn their strategies into more institutionalized practices, they remain an ad hoc mechanism of internal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a history of the co-operative firm in China from its origins in the early twenth century. The aim is to describe how in its evolution, the Chinese Co-operative Movement has diverged from the western notion of a co-operative. To understand the similarities and the divergence, we will consider a number of economic and cultural factors, including the etymology of the Chinese and English words for ‘co-operative’, the Confucian culture and the influence of the political contingencies. We argue that contemporary Chinese economic transition would benefit from the presence of a strong, western style, co-operative sector but that the contribution of the co-operative sector towards sustainability cannot take place unless a civil society develops as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After China's new leader Xi Jinping took office in November 2012, an ideological tendency with a Maoist imprint has become more visible in policy-making. This tendency is not a simple revival of Maoist practices, but a re-appropriation suited to new political goals. In the near future, internet governance in China is likely to combine Mao-style mass campaigns with the mobilization of law and civil society to proactively mold online expression and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Chinese scholarly discourse about promoting civil society, constructing urban and rural communities, and transferring social service provision to society. It finds that this discourse treats two separate models as if they were one. The civil society model stresses freedom to organize for advancing the aims that participants share. The community building model emphasizes community governance and empowerment. Together, these two models expect both the state and society to strengthen their presence in the same communal space. These two models have theoretical inconsistencies, but these inconsistencies disappear if civil society is understood in the very narrow terms of the 'small government, big society' model in which the state wants to reduce its own economic burdens in social service production. It is thus likely that in China civil society either remains secondary to the state-initiated channels of social and political participation in communities, or takes place mainly on the regional or national scope in which civil society organizations no longer compete with communal ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last two decades, the People's Republic of China has witnessed an explosion of NGOs. What will the implications be for state-society relations? This article, drawing upon research conducted at seven Chinese NGOs, critiques two approaches to analysing this problem: the civil society framework and the privatization perspective. It then proffers a third way: an approach based on organizational analysis. Both the civil society and privatization perspectives assume a zero-sum game between a monolithic state and NGOs/citizens. Yet empirical evidence reveals that Chinese NGOs are often much more interested in building alliances with state agencies and actors than in autonomy from the government. From an organizational perspective, this makes sense. As organizations, both NGOs and state agencies need to ensure a constant supply of necessary resources for the firm to survive, and their strategies for achieving this goal will be constrained by their actors' own institutional experiences and the cultural frameworks extant in their society. Alliances between Chinese NGOs and state agencies can help both types of organizations secure necessary resources and gain legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although home-grown NGO-type organisations have existed in Japan for a century or more, it has only been in the last two decades that significant numbers of Japanese NGOs have become active internationally, promoting international educational, cultural, scientific, economic and environmental co-operation. This is particularly noticeable in the case of Japanese NGOs' activities in China. With the growth in China's economy, international trade and other activities, Japanese people have become increasingly sensitive to environmental, political and social problems within China. In addition to this are the perennial problems caused by the troubled history of relations between the two countries. To help address these issues, a large number of Japanese NGOs have been set up in recent years to focus on exchanges of people and ideas between China and Japan. In order to investigate the background and reasons for this situation, this article first charts the development of international NGOs in Japan, considering changes in Japan's civil society and international awareness. It then considers why Japanese NGOs have become active in China and what kinds of activities they are focusing upon in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research on non-governmental forces in modern China, during its inception in the early 1990s, bore obvious influences from Western theories of civil society and the public sphere. By the late 1990s, this research began to pick up new momentum: the scope was expanded, findings were increased, essays and empirical studies came forth incessantly. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, research by Chinese scholars on the topic grew at an even greater rate. Aside from those academics who continued to borrow theories of civil society and public sphere, more scholars began employing the analytical framework of “society and state” to tackle the many issues within the non-governmental sectors of modern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of Chinese environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a recent campaign against the construction of a dam on the Nujiang River in the south-western province of Yunnan. By examining how these organizations have promoted debate, participation and people-centred development, it concludes that Chinese NGOs are increasingly contributing to the emergence of a pluralistic civil society and no longer restrict their role to uncontroversial service provision. This case reveals that co-operation between NGOs and the government does not necessarily contradict the notion of civil society. If we want to understand China's emerging civil society, we have to transcend simple state/society dichotomies and acknowledge the growing complexity of the interests involved. 摘要: ：此份报告在于探讨中国的环境NGO近期在反对云南怒江流域建坝活动中扮演的角色。 通过分析此类组织在推动辩论、民众参与和以人为本发展中所采取的方式， 本文认为， 中国的环境NGO正超越非争议性的服务模式， 并为一个多元化公民社会的形成做出越来越大的贡献。 此份个案分析突出强调了NGO与政府的接近并不必然与公民社会的理念相冲突。 本文表明， 如果我们希望理解中国正在崛起的公民社会， 我们就不能仅仅将中国的NGO限定在国家--社会二元对立的概念框架中， 而应认识到各种利益关系间不断增加的复杂性和多样性。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares different practices of business associations in two localities in China – Wuxi and Wenzhou – and examines the internal linkage between associational practices and patterns of economic development. In Wuxi, business associations are organised and run by government in a top-down approach, and serve as state corporatist instruments; while in Wenzhou, there emerged many grass-roots business associations initiated and governed by entrepreneurs from bottom-up, working for societal purposes. The distinctive associational practices in the two localities are linked with their local economic development patterns: government-led development in Wuxi versus entrepreneur-initiated development in Wenzhou. The article concludes that the growth of private entrepreneurship and the spread of market relations, together with the willingness of government to leave space to societal actors, are the primary conditions for autonomous, vibrant business associations to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]