NGOs and Changes in China
Despite phenomenal growth and change over the past three decades, China may be poised for even greater changes as NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) proliferate, Assistant Professor Walter Hatch (government) said in a Family Homecoming Weekend talk Sept. 26.
When Hatch visited China with student research assistants this summer, he found dramatic changes since his very first visit, in 1985. “China is growing faster than any country in the world and has for the three decades ever since 1979,” he said. His talk was about how civil society in China may see even greater changes with the proliferation of NGOs in the country.
Hatch has been studying the emergence of these NGOs and visited 10 environmental NGOs and 10 others aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS. NGOs allow for massive public participation, he said. “Almost half of the NGOs are involved in social service delivery.” There has also been a significant rise in volunteerism in China over the years. “The Chinese people are as giving and involved in their society as anywhere else,” Hatch said.
While some in the West may think that as civil society gets stronger the ruling power will get weaker, Hatch thinks otherwise. “As society gets stronger, the state is getting stronger too,” he said. And despite the liberties that the proliferation of NGOs may promise, a politically pluralistic society may not be one of the outcomes. “The Chinese Communist Party continues to maintain a very tight grip on that society.”
He is, however, suspicious of cultural arguments that use Confucianism as an explanation of the government’s control, and he cites Japan as an essentially Confucian culture that also has a democratic government. “The NGOs are looked on favourably by the government,” he said, adding that the Chinese government is genuinely concerned about its people’s wellbeing, despite all its power and control.
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