Article About Civic Participation In China
It is thought that one of the defining features of a functioning democratic system is the ability of people to freely form groups to represent their interests. In China, this has traditionally not been the case. Typically the Chinese government has feared the disturbances that civil society groups might cause - or the challenge that it might pose to official policy or orthodoxy. The Wall Street Journal just ran an article about Ma Chen and her efforts to start a school for autistic children, an effort that she has undertaken without state sanction:
The outcome has important implications for China. Independent centers of power, such as charities and advocacy groups, have begun popping up here in response to social problems. Beijing is gradually permitting nongovernmental organizations, but it restricts their scope. The country’s leadership worries that too much civil society could stir up conflict, challenge its grip and put at risk the stability that has underpinned 25 years of fast economic growth.
The situation underscores somewhat China’s response to globalization. Because the Chinese authorities fear the loss of state power to global forces, they have proceeded cautiously in adopting political reforms that would allow the free participation of its citizens.
While there has been considerable attention to the role that international capital plays in the erosion of state power, I do not necessarily think that the same attention has been paid to the role that non-governmental organizations play in the agenda-setting and policy choices of national governments. This article at least shows that states like China are concerned with the benefits that these civil society groups can bestow(they often fill in gaps in government services), but the question for them is: how exactly are they managed?
March 25th, 2008 11:29
[…] would want fair representation in their government and the ability to control their own religious associations. There could be strains on government legitimacy here, even if they were to relax a little bit in […]