Passive cooperation or active coproduction? Grassroots NGOs’ strategies in interactions with government in crisis management in Chengdu, China

Abstract

ABSTRACT We report an in-depth case study demonstrating Chinese grassroots NGOs’ strategies in interactions with the Chengdu government to manage crises. Our study found that NGOs in Chengdu applied the two strategies via four approaches: passively assisting policy implementation, passively propagating government policies, actively providing professional services delivered unsatisfactorily by government, and actively developing self-governing initiatives for joint action. Moreover, it shows how two dimensions, the organisational dimension, and the internal relationship dimension, influence the selection of strategies NGOs apply in interactions with governments in crisis.