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China's Legal Environment for Domestic Ngos CHINA’S LEGAL ENVIRONMENT FOR DOMESTIC NGOS: STANDARDIZED POLICIES FOR GREATER PARTY-STATE CONTROL OVER CIVIL SOCIETY A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts By KELLY E. TURSIC B.A., Western Kentucky University, 2017 2021 Wright State University WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL April 28, 2021 I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY Kelly E. Tursic ENTITLED China’s Legal Environment for Domestic NGOs: Standardized Policies for Greater Party-State Control over Civil Society BE ACCEPTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts. ______________________________ Laura M. Luehrmann, Ph.D. Thesis Director ______________________________ Laura M. Luehrmann, Ph.D. Director, Master of Arts Program in International and Comparative Politics Committee on Final Examination: ___________________________________ Laura M. Luehrmann, Ph.D. School of Public and International Affairs ___________________________________ December Green, Ph.D. School of Public and International Affairs ___________________________________ Judson B. Murray, Ph.D. Departments of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics ______________________________ Barry Milligan, Ph.D. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Dean of the Graduate School ABSTRACT Tursic, Kelly E. M.A., School of Public and International Affairs, Wright State University, 2021. China’s Legal Environment for Domestic NGOs: Standardized Policies for Greater Party-State Control over Civil Society. This thesis examines one angle of state-society relations in authoritarian states through the lens of Chinese nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their legal environment. While grassroots organizations have not prompted political liberalization in China, they have not been entirely co-opted by the party-state either. Through an examination of policy changes, a study of 120 organizations, and a case study of a non-profit incubator, this thesis explores whether the political environment for China’s domestic NGOs varies by geographic region and issue area. The findings suggest there is not significant variation as the party-state has implemented standardized policies for increased control over civil society. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Literature Review.................................................................................................................2 Methodology and Research Design .....................................................................................5 Hypotheses ...........................................................................................................................8 Chapter Outline ....................................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: China’s NGO Policies ...............................................................................................10 Chinese NGO Terminology ...............................................................................................10 Early History ......................................................................................................................12 Registration Requirements .................................................................................................13 Growth and Loosening Policies .........................................................................................15 Recent Restrictions ............................................................................................................17 Chapter 3: Cases ..........................................................................................................................20 Overall Results ...................................................................................................................21 Analysis of Hypotheses......................................................................................................26 Unregistered Organizations ...................................................................................27 LGBT+ Issues ........................................................................................................31 Migrant Labor Rights .............................................................................................32 Registration Comparisons by Location ..............................................................................33 Chapter 4: Examining Enpai ......................................................................................................36 Enpai in China Development Brief and the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ Databases ............37 Enpai’s Early History .........................................................................................................39 iv Enpai’s Global Partnerships ...............................................................................................41 “The Future of Non-Profit Incubators” ..............................................................................43 NPI Nanjing .......................................................................................................................45 Day-to-Day at NPI Nanjing ...............................................................................................50 Chapter 5: Conclusions ...............................................................................................................55 Responses to Hypotheses ...................................................................................................55 Implications for State-Society Relations in China .............................................................58 Scope Limitations ..............................................................................................................60 Future Research .................................................................................................................62 Professionalizing the NGO Sector .....................................................................................64 Effects of the Overton Window .........................................................................................65 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................68 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. Map of Organizations’ Location of Operations...........................................................21 Figure 3.2. Issue Areas and Locations of Organizations ...............................................................25 Figure 3.3. Registration in MoCA Database .................................................................................26 Figure 3.4. NGOCN’s Survey Results on Why Organizations Had Not Registered .....................27 Figure 3.5. MoCA Registration by Location .................................................................................34 Figure 4.1. NPI.org.cn Depiction of Its Branches..........................................................................39 Figure 4.2. Scenes from within Yuhua Public Interest Makerspace ..............................................48 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Organizations Not Registered in MoCA Database .......................................................30 vii LIST OF ACRONYMS CCP: Chinese Communist Party CDB: China Development Brief GONGO: government-organized nongovernmental organization LGBT: lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender MoCA: Ministry of Civil Affairs ICNL: International Center for Not-for-Profit Law ICP: Internet Content Provider NGO: nongovernmental organization NPI: Non-Profit Incubator PRC: People’s Republic of China UN: United Nations VPN: virtual private network viii NON-ENGLISH TERMS (in order of appearance) Chinese Pinyin Romanization English Page # 非营利组织 feiyingli zuzhi nonprofit organization 10 非政府组织 feizhengfu zuzhi nongovernmental organization 10 公益组织 gongyi zuzhi public welfare organization 11 民间组织 minjian zuzhi “among-the-citizens” organization 11 社会组织 shehui zuzhi social organization 11 户口 hukou household registration 32 恩派 Enpai NPI 37 关系 guanxi “relationship” – influential social network 40 鲲鹏 kunpeng Chinese mythological creature 42 党建服务 dangjian fuwu Party-strengthening services 46 互联网+ hulianwang jia “internet plus” 47 ix Chapter 1: Introduction Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) fall within the category of civil society, which Larry Diamond (1994) defines as “the realm of organized social life that is voluntary, self- generating, (largely) self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound by a legal order or set of shared rules” (p. 5). On a domestic level, states and non-state actors are often at odds with each other due to competing interests. The primary democratic function of civil society is limiting state power (Diamond, 1994). Therefore, authoritarian regimes may see NGOs as a threat to political stability. On the other hand, the services NGOs provide can be invaluable to the government as they alleviate pressure from the state’s own resources. NGOs can thus provide services that the government is unable or unwilling to provide. What factors affect the state- society relationship in non-democracies? Do regional differences and issue areas account for variation in the state’s perception of grassroots groups? The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is an authoritarian state with a substantial number of NGOs, and it has established
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