Search

After three decades of economic liberalization, the state has opens up limited space for the people to participate in volunteer organizations. However, social participation in China is still constrained by various limits..x000d..x000d.Based on a survey of social participation in China, this paper studies the general patterns of social participation and analyzed the major contributing factors to those unique features in the context of civil society development. .x000d..x000d.By comparing China's experience in this regard with those of the other countries, this paper further argues that the growth of the civil society is path-dependent. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that China has witnessed a boom in civil society organizations, China still does not have a full- fledged civil society independent from the state. On the one hand, the state still exert controls over the society through corporatist system; on the other hand, the newly emerged, grassroots organizations are still fighting for their survival and faced with many obstacles in delivering public goods. This paper analyzes the latest trends in the relations between grassroots civil society organizations and the state, and argues that the grassroots NGOs have begun to challenge the well-established state-society relations. However, the institutions of the corporatist state remain powerful, and in various ways have constrained the growth of an independent civil society. The paper finally concludes that civil society development in China requires a unique theoretical model and points out that institution is the major factor that decides the further growth of civil society in China. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]