Advocacy by civil society organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is especially challenging in a constraining political context. The Government of China has invited such organizations to assist in addressing emergent environmental problems while also limiting political challenges from them. NGOs need to respond to these political externalities strategically. This paper navigates a quarter-century advocacy voyage by an iconic Chinese environmental NGO—Friends of Nature—discussing how the organization adapted to meet internal organization challenges within a dynamic, restrictive political environment. We found two major strategic pathways: first, diminishing dependency on influential individual leaders by building institutional competence and reputation; second, strategic specialization in litigation that anticipates opportunities that might emerge as state policies shift, and actively shaping niches to exert impact. This study adds historical insights on an NGO’s evolution in China that can benefit other civil society organizations that face significant political, social, or legal challenges.
AngY. Y. (2016). How China escaped the poverty trap. Cornell University Press.
3.
BruunO. (2020). Environmental protection in the hands of the state: Authoritarian environmentalism and popular perceptions in Vietnam. The Journal of Environment & Development, 29(2), 171–195.
4.
DengG.MenegazziS. (2018). The relationship between NGOs and think tanks with the government in China. In Government–NGO relationships in africa, Asia, europe and MENA, pp. 95–113. Routledge India.
5.
FaridM. (2019). Advocacy in action: China’s grassroots NGOs as catalysts for policy innovation." Studies in Comparative International Development, 54(4), 528–549.
6.
FengC. (2017). The NGO law in China and its impact on overseas funded NGOs.” Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 9(3), 95–105.
FroissartC. (2019). From outsiders to insiders: The rise of China ENGOs as new experts in the law-making process and the building of a technocratic representation. Journal of Chinese Governance, 4(3), 207–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/23812346.2019.1638686
9.
GaudreauM.CaoH. (2015). Political constraints on adaptive governance: Environmental NGO networks in nanjing, China. The Journal of Environment & Development, 24(4), 418–444.
10.
HaddadM. A. (2015). Increasing environmental performance in a context of low governmental enforcement: Evidence from China. The Journal of Environment & Development, 24(1), 3–25.
11.
HaddadM. A. (2021). Effective advocacy: Lessons from East Asia's environmentalists. MIT Press.
12.
HalldingK.HanG.OlssonM. (2009). A balancing act: China's role in climate change.
13.
HasmathR.HsuJ. Y. J. (2020). A community of practice for Chinese NGOs. Journal of Chinese Political Science, 25(4), 575–589.
14.
Heyi Institute. (2014). Interview with (six) director generals of Friends of nature by heyi Institute (in Chinese). Last modified December 3, 2014. http://www.hyi.org.cn/news/hangye/833.html
15.
HildebrandtT. (2013). Social organizations and the authoritarian state in China. Cambridge University Press.
16.
HoP. (2001). Greening without conflict? Environmentalism, NGOs and civil society in China. Development and Change, 32(5), 893–921. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00231
17.
HsuC. (2010). Beyond civil society: An organizational perspective on state–NGO relations in the People's Republic of China.” Journal of Civil Society, 6(3), 259–277.
18.
HsuC. L.JiangY. (2015). An institutional approach to Chinese NGOs: State alliance versus state avoidance resource strategies. China Quarterly, 221(1), 100.
19.
HsuJ. Y. J.HasmathR. (2017). A maturing civil society in China? The role of knowledge and professionalization in the development of NGOs. China Information31 (1): 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X16676995
20.
JinJ. (2012). Two environmental conservation worlds: The environmental conservation organizations in transition. In GuoY. (ed.), Tsinghua Sociological Review, No.5:22-45.
21.
KangX. (2018). Moving toward neo-totalitarianism: A political-sociological analysis of the evolution of administrative absorption of society in China. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 9(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2017-0026
22.
KangX.HanH. (2008). Graduated controls: The state-society relationship in contemporary China. Modern China, 34(1), 36–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0097700407308138
23.
KostkaG.ZhangC. (2018). Tightening the grip: Environmental governance under Xi jinping. Environmental Politics, 27(5), 769–781.
LiD. (2014). A public hearing over the Old summer Palace case. Law Press China.
26.
LiuD. (2019). Advocacy channels and political resource dependence in authoritarianism: Nongovernmental organizations and environmental policies in China." Governance33(2), 323–342.
McAdamD. (1996). Conceptual origins, current problems, future directions. In Doug McAdamJ. D. M.ZaldM. (Eds.), Comparative perspectives on social movements: Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings (pp. 23-40). Cambridge University Press.
29.
Office of the State Council. (2016). “Opinions on reforming the management system of social organizations to promote the healthy and orderly development of social organizations (关于改革社会组织管理制度促进社会组织健康有序发展的意见).”
30.
Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. (2015). “Opinions on strengthening party construction work in social organizations (provisional) (关于加强社会组织党的建设工作的意见 (试行) ).” http://dangjian.people.com.cn/n/2015/0929/c117092-27645046.html.
31.
PekkanenR. J.StevenR. S.YutakaT., eds (2014). Nonprofits and advocacy: Engaging community and government in an era of retrenchment. JHU Press.
32.
RooijB. vanSternR. E.FürstK. (2016). The authoritarian logic of regulatory pluralism: Understanding China’s new environmental actors: Authoritarian logic of regulatory pluralism. Regulation & Governance10(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12074
ShiehS. (2018). The Chinese state and overseas NGOs: From regulatory ambiguity to the overseas NGO law." In Nonprofit policy forum, Vol. 9, no. 1. De Gruyter.
35.
ShiehS.DengG. (2011). An emerging civil society: The impact of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake on grass-roots associations in China." The China Journal, 65(2011), 181–194.
36.
SpiresAnthony J. (2011). Contingent symbiosis and civil society in an authoritarian state: Understanding the survival of China’s grassroots NGOs. American Journal of Sociology, 117(1), 1–45. https://doi.org/10.1086/660741
37.
SteinhardtH. ChristophWuF. (2015). The name of the public: Environmental protest and the changing landscape of popular contention in China. The China Journal, 75, 61–82.
38.
TarrowS. G. (2011). Power in movement: Social movements and contentious politics. Rev. and Updated. 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press.
39.
TeddlieC.TashakkoriA.(2009). Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. Sage.
40.
TeetsJ. (2013). Let many civil societies bloom: The rise of consultative authoritarianism in China. The China Quarterly, 213, 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305741012001269
41.
TeetsJ.AlmenO. (2018). Advocacy under Xi: NPO strategies to influence policy change. In Nonprofit policy forum, Vol. 9, pp. 1. De Gruyter.
42.
WilmsenC. (2012). Participation, reciprocity, and empowerment in the practice of Participatory Research. University of California, pp. 611–629.
43.
WolfS. A. (2011). Network governance as adaptive institutional response: The case of multifunctional forested landscapes. Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, 3(3), 223–235.
44.
YangG. (2005). Environmental NGOs and institutional dynamics in China. The China Quarterly, 181(1), 46–66.
45.
ZhangC. (2017). Social organization and policy negotiation – pluralism and corporatism. Zhejiang. Academic Journal.
46.
ZhongX. (2016). Chinese environmental NGO action strategy in transition. In Social construction. 3.
47.
ZhuangH. (2021). A new role for civil society organizations in environmental governance in contemporary China. PhD diss. Cornell University.
48.
ZhuangH.WolfS. A. (2021). Environmental public interest litigation: New roles for civil society organizations in environmental governance in China. Environmental Sociology, 1(14), 393–406.
