David Talks to Goliath: NGOs’ Policy Advocacy in China

• Authors: QIAOAN Runya
• Year of publication: 2016
• Type: Appeared in Conference without Proceedings
• Description: The research examines Chinese environmental NGOs as “strategic actors” in the “strategic action field” of state policy/law making and implementation. In March 2014, the Chinese premier declared a “war on pollution”: a series of strict environmental policies and “the most stringent environmental law” were soon made targeting the polluting industries. In the following year, an average of 10% drop of PM 2.5 was monitored among over 300 Chinese cities. When these changes are discussed, it is mainly actions from the state side that are noticed. Evidence shows that Chinese environmental NGOs have also been very active during this period, which begs a question of what strategies they employed to participate in the environmental politics. To investigate Chinese environmental NGOs’ policy/law advocacy strategies, I conducted a three-month participatory observation in an environmental NGO in Beijing. Besides, I also attended conferences between various environmental NGOs and the state officials and carried out in-depth semi-structured interviews with environmental NGO leaders all around China. The paper argues that proactively participating in policy/law advocacy to acquire a dialogue relationship with the political entrepreneurs is an effective way for Chinese grassroots NGOs to achieve their specific agenda on environmental issues. This research breaks new ground by entangling the black box of environmental policy/law making process in China. Moreover, it sheds light on general policy advocacy strategies of civil society in an authoritarian regime.