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Grassroots NGO's in China: a study of the legitimation process

China, as an authoritarian state, exerts tight control over society. Grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China emerged in the context of top-down restrictions and lack of bottom-up social support. However, over the years, they have developed into a visible social force in various areas, such as environmental protection and women‘s rights protection. The policy environment has also become more favorable for NGOs.
This research aims to investigate how this process happened. How did grassroots NGOs in China gradually gain legitimacy in the face of a hostile government and among an uninformed public? Adapting legitimacy studies in organizational theory to NGO studies, I developed a four-stage model to illustrate the legitimation process of Chinese grassroots NGOs involving embeddedness, diffusion, transition and validation.

Using two in-depth case studies, the legitimation process and the dynamics between the state, NGOs and society are explored. I contend that grassroots NGOs initially embed themselves in existing institutions to attain a basic level of legitimacy, after which they diffuse their values and images through various channels to attain greater legitimacy. After a stage of transition, the legitimacy of grassroots NGOs is enhanced and they move into a stage of validation. In each stage, different types of legitimacy are attained through different sources. The interaction between the different dimensions of legitimacy reflects the dynamics between the state, NGOs and society. / published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

  1. 10.5353/th_b4979946
  2. b4979946
Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/181512
Date January 2011
CreatorsChu, Caixia., 褚彩霞.
ContributorsLee, EWY
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Source SetsHong Kong University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypePG_Thesis
Sourcehttp://hub.hku.hk/bib/B49799460
RightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
RelationHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)

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