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In recent years China has been remarkable in achieving extraordinary economic transformation, yet without fundamental political change. To many observers this would seem to imply a weakness in Chinese civil society. However, though the idea of democracy as multitudes of citizens taking to the streets may be attractive, it is simultaneously misleading as it disregards the nature of political change taking place in China today: a gradual shift towards a polity adapted to a pluralist society. At the same time, one may wonder what the limited political space implies for the development of a social movement in China. This book explores this question by focusing on one of the most active areas of Chinese civil society: the environment.
China's Embedded Activism argues that China's semi-authoritarian limitations on the freedom of association and speech, coupled with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu in which activism occurs in an embedded fashion. The semi-authoritarian atmosphere is restrictive of, but paradoxically, also conducive to nationwide, collective action with less risk of social instability and repression at the hand of the governing elite.
Rich in case studies about environmental civic organizations in China, and written by a team of international experts on social movements, NGOs, democratization, and civil society, this book addresses a wide readership of students, scholars and professionals interested in development, geography and environment, political change, and contemporary Chinese society.
Show moreIn recent years China has been remarkable in achieving extraordinary economic transformation, yet without fundamental political change. To many observers this would seem to imply a weakness in Chinese civil society. However, though the idea of democracy as multitudes of citizens taking to the streets may be attractive, it is simultaneously misleading as it disregards the nature of political change taking place in China today: a gradual shift towards a polity adapted to a pluralist society. At the same time, one may wonder what the limited political space implies for the development of a social movement in China. This book explores this question by focusing on one of the most active areas of Chinese civil society: the environment.
China's Embedded Activism argues that China's semi-authoritarian limitations on the freedom of association and speech, coupled with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu in which activism occurs in an embedded fashion. The semi-authoritarian atmosphere is restrictive of, but paradoxically, also conducive to nationwide, collective action with less risk of social instability and repression at the hand of the governing elite.
Rich in case studies about environmental civic organizations in China, and written by a team of international experts on social movements, NGOs, democratization, and civil society, this book addresses a wide readership of students, scholars and professionals interested in development, geography and environment, political change, and contemporary Chinese society.
Show more1. Introduction: Embedded Activism and Political Change in a Semi-Authoritarian Context Peter Ho 2. Self-Imposed Censorship and De-Politicized Politics in China: Green Activism or a Color Revolution? Peter Ho 3. Corporatist Control of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations: A State Perspective Ru Jiang and Leonard Ortolano 4. "Of Seven Mouths and Eight Tongues": Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere Craig Calhoun and Guobin Yang 5. Political Ecology of Popular Protest in Mid-Qing China: Changes and Continuities with Contemporary Resistance Ho-fung Hung 6. Grassland Campaigns during the Collective Era: Socialist Politics and Local Strategies in Uxin Ju Hong Jiang 7. Channeling Dissent: The Institutionalization of Environmental Complaint Resolution Anna Brettell 8. Benefits and Costs of Shanghai’s Environmental Citizen Complaints System Mara Warwick and Leonard Ortolano 9. Not Against the State, Just Protecting Residents’ Interests: An Urban Movement in a Shanghai Neighborhood Jiangang Zhu and Peter Ho 10. An Alliance between State and Society?: Environmental Activism in Shanghai Seungho Lee 11. Caged by Boundaries?: NGO Cooperation at the Sino-Russian Border Yanfei Sun and Maria Tysiachniouk 12. Transnational Advocacy at the Grassroots: Benefits and Risks of International Cooperation Katherine Morton 13. Perspectives of Time and Change: Rethinking Embedded Green Activism in China Peter Ho and Richard Louis Edmonds
Richard Louis Edmonds is Visiting Professor in the Geographical Studies Program and Member, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Chicago.
Peter Ho is Professor in International Development Studies and Director of the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), University of Groningen
'China's Embedded Activism is another important effort in making sense of the changes that are taking place in China' - Zhengxu Wang. The China Quarterly, 196, December 2008
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