Abstract
This paper examines the humanitarian work of Taiwan’s Tzu-Chi in the U.S. and discusses how the work in the U.S. has facilitated Tzu-Chi in becoming a global humanitarian NGO. Founded in 1966 by a Buddhist nun and a group of women in Taiwan, Tzu-Chi is now the largest civil association working in Taiwan and a reputable humanitarian INGO. However, the internationalization of Tzu-Chi is often taken for granted. This paper problematizes the internationalization process and engages with two theoretical perspectives—resource dependence and structural opportunity. Both perspectives cannot properly explain Tzu-Chi’s internationalization process. Drawing on historical materials and engaging with social movement theories, we argue that the U.S. experience has offered (1) cognitive liberation; (2) learning of new organizational forms. This study provides a rare case study on how a non-Western NGO becomes an INGO and offers a co-evolutionary angle to the internationalization process.
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