Civil Society Contributions to Policy Innovation in the PR China, edited by Andreas Fulda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xv+311 pp. £75.00 (cloth).

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Previous articleNext article FreeReviewsCivil Society Contributions to Policy Innovation in the PR China, edited by Andreas Fulda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xv+311 pp. £75.00 (cloth).Xiaoyuan ShangXiaoyuan ShangUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThis book discusses the reach and significance of civil society building and development in China by way of several policy domains: environmental (part 1), social development (civil society activities involving labor, disabilities, and public services) (part 2) and, in part 3, the opportunities and challenges for European Union–China civil society collaboration and the impact of this on public policy making and implementation in China.The book is useful for readers who want to understand current state-society relations in China because, first, it examines these relations from a “state in society” perspective (9), trying to avoid the biases inherent in approaches that are “state centric” or “society centric.” In the current institutional arrangements, a policy innovation is more likely to be realized if a civil society organization cooperates with the government whenever feasible. From this perspective, some of the authors in this edited book raise the view that collaborative state-society relations are a necessary precondition for the extension of Chinese civil society. However, when a civil society organization does collaborate, it may have to sacrifice its autonomy.Second, the case studies included in the book demonstrate that the public policy innovations promoted by civil society organizations are important to the state. Because of the complicated governance challenges facing the state and civil society, new types of governance are sought after, and cooperation between the state and civil society becomes more important than before. One step in this direction is government procurement of public services from civil society organizations. A case study by Yang Tuan, Huang Haoming, and Andreas Fukda examines this new trend in governance at the local level. The practice of procuring such services is more commonly accepted by local governments in relatively richer areas in China and was recently endorsed by the central government. This is not only a new form of governance for the state but also a new participation channel for civil society organizations.As the book shows, there is an imbalance in the development of relations between the state and civil society in different policy domains. For example, the book’s three chapters on state–civil society relations in the domain of environmental policies show that more political space exists for environmental organizations to participate in policy innovation than in, say, industrial relations. The case study on labor NGOs suggests that independent labor NGOs have to deal with an unclear legal status, and heavily rely on foreign donations for their organizational survival. The evidence indicates that Chinese civil society may develop more easily in domains that are “nonpolitical” in nature, and where common agreements are easier to research. This has been true of environmental problems, which affect all social groups, and where considerable pressures to act can therefore be exerted on the state.A reader gets the impression that the autonomic development of civil society is still a question in China, and that civil society organizations have a long way to go to earn an independent existence. This is not a question raised by the book. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 77January 2017 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/689232 For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.