Participation in Neighborhood Governance

Abstract

This chapter looks at the perspectives of non-state participants, including social and market groups and residents, and examines the potential outcomes on hybrid authoritarianism of their willingness to participate in neighborhood governance. It describes their response strategies and how their experiences are shaped and guided by state-led discourses. The chapter then argues that non-state actors and organizations are not necessarily in opposition to the party-state all the time, nor is this a zero-sum game. Instead, to a certain degree they perform as important political intermediaries through their multiple roles of participants, collaborators, and strategic players in neighborhood governance. Ultimately, non-state actors are significant in shaping neighborhood governance by shaping how “governmentality” plays out at the Chinese grassroots.