Emerging state–business contention in China: Collective action of a business association and China’s fragmented governance structure

Abstract

Based on an in-depth case study of a business association, this article explores how private entrepreneurs are organizing for their rights and highlights contentious facets of the state–business relationship in China. In contrast to depictions common in the literature, this business association actively asserts and seeks to maintain its autonomy vis-a-vis the state and uses innovative strategies to strengthen its own organizational cohesion. It organizes collective actions to defend members’ interests and to enhance the transparency and accountability of the local government. It even advances universal values, such as equal rights to justice. Importantly, however, the initiation and effects of collective actions are contingent on the opportunities embedded in China’s fragmented governance structure. I argue that corporatist analyses characterizing Chinese business associations as lacking autonomy and as partners of the state have overlooked such associations’ potential to engage in confrontations with the state. Combining involvement in the formal institution and contentious collective actions, the association studied displays the tension between the incorporation system and social resistance in contemporary China.