| In a one-party authoritarian state, the government strives to be at the helm of a country's economic, political, and social life. In the 1990s, China experienced an explosion of government-organized non-governmental organizations (GONGOs), which have been characterized by many as a successful attempt to maintain party-state control over the associational life of Chinese citizens. This dissertation focuses attention not on GONGOs, but on the emergence of true nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in China, grassroots groups that emerge and survive outside the control of the state.;China's grassroots NGOs have sprung up in a time of great economic growth, yet also in a time when the government has drastically scaled back its provision of social services. The organizations in this study have emerged largely in response to this rapidly changing economic and social environment to address issues like healthcare, education, and workers' rights. They are also emerging in a context of globalization, which has driven economic capital to China along with foreign monies designated for 'social investments' aimed at strengthening China's nascent civil society and promoting democratic political change.;Based on over two years of research, including 15 months of fieldwork in Guangdong province in 2005 and 2006, I present some perspectives on three issues concerning grassroots groups: NGO-government relations, influences from abroad, and the struggles of NGOs to enact internal democracy. I find that although grassroots NGOs are always under threat of suppression, even ostensibly illegal organizations are able to find support from government quarters due to their strong social legitimacy, uneven enforcement of regulations, and the government's own tight control over media. Funding and ideas from abroad, rather than promoting a democratic political agenda, are shown to reinforce the political status quo and entrench a neoliberal economic agenda that serves the interests of elites in China and abroad. Finally, even though many NGO participants are drawn to NGOs out of a yearning for a more democratic space, I argue that the authoritarian norms and practices of the larger social context handicap the development of democratic skills and habits inside NGOs. |
