Nonprofit-Government Relations in Authoritarian China: A Review and Synthesis of the Chinese Literature

Abstract

This study provides a comprehensive review and synthesis of the Chinese literature on nonprofit-government relations. A total of 1,222 nonprofit research articles have been examined. It assesses the key insights and contributions of nonprofit-government relations studies across macro-, meso-, and micro-level. It identifies three important limitations of extant research: the lack of autonomy (i.e., it is state-guided), indigeneity (i.e., it is largely an exercise of applying Western theories), and sophistication (i.e., it has limited theoretical depth and methodological rigor). The middle-range approach to theory building is suggested as a most appropriate future direction to advance research in this area.

What do we know about nonprofit collaboration? A systematic review of the literature

“…Moreover, it is possible that the keyword searches—albeit multiple ones—might have omitted some forms of nonprofit collaborative activity. Similarly, the focus on English language journals suggests the need to engage with research from other parts of the world (see Zhang & Guo, in press, for a useful attempt to review the Chinese language literature on nonprofit‐government relations). Notwithstanding these limitations, the clear patterns that emerge from our research help to define possible future research directions for nonprofit scholars, and the data offer the possibility for additional analysis.…”

Civil Society and COVID in China: Responses in an Authoritarian Society

“…Civil society in China began to unfold in the early 1980s when China initiated its strategy of "reform and opening up." Since its inception, however, the Chinese state has sought to keep the civil society under control and use it to serve state goals (Zhang & Guo, 2020). Starting with strictly restrictive measures, the state gradually developed a "graduated control" regime in the 2000s, which differentiated government measures for CSOs according to the type of the public goods they provide and their capacity in challenging state power (Kang & Han, 2008).…”

Disentangling the Myth of Nonprofit–Government Relations in China

“…First, corresponding to the trajectory from grand conceptualization to concrete proposition as outlined above, scholarly attention has shifted from macro investigations into the structural nonprofit–government relations to the detailed account of the dynamic interactions between nonprofit organizations and government, with a strong emphasis on the actions of the nonprofits vis-à-vis the government (J. Y. J. Hsu & Hasmath, 2016; Z. Zhang & Guo, 2020).…”

“…The third article by Z. Zhang and Guo (2020) synthesizes the research on nonprofit–government relations in Chinese writings.…”

“…The third article by Z. Zhang and Guo (2020) synthesizes the research on nonprofit-government relations in Chinese writings. Through a systematic review method, they build up a database of 1,222 relevant articles published in 129 Chinese journals from 1994 to 2015.…”