NGO Forum - 10 - The Political Economy of Activist Adaptation in China

Scholarly attention has been increasingly paid to the emergence of Chinese NGOs. And while we have a better understanding of how these organizations rose within an otherwise closed political environment, we know considerably less about the rapidly changing nature of NGO development and, therefore, the potential future of these organizations, especially in a ‘post-success’ environment. How will Chinese NGOs confront a future where the state is better able to deal with social problems, and thus no longer needs their assistance in social service delivery? In addition, how can Chinese NGOs survive where they lack domestic sources of funding and foreign donors are retreating? To deal with these constraints, many Chinese NGOs have adopted new models of funding that resemble more social enterprise than NGO. However, we lack theoretical understanding of this shift: on one hand, there are very few compelling theories to understand changes within NGO orientation, especially when an NGO becomes something decidedly different; on the other hand, scholars of social entrepreneurship have yet to present compelling explanations for why an organization becomes a social enterprise from a different form. As such, in this paper I posit a political economy explanation for this activist adaptation in China, showing how the limited economic resources and the closed political environment compels NGOs to operate more as business if they wish to continue their work unabated. In doing so, I also present conceptual frameworks for understanding future of NGOs far outside China, not just in closed polities, but more open ones as well.

For more information, see: https://www.routledge.com/NGO-Governance-and-Management-in-China/Hasmath-Hsu/p/book/9781138909977

Видео NGO Forum - 10 - The Political Economy of Activist Adaptation in China канала Reza Hasmath