| الملخص: |
This study examines the relationship between migrant civil society organisations (CSOs) in Beijing and Shanghai and the Chinese state. The research explores how stakeholders interact, and subsequent impact on state-society relations. With the Chinese state gradually withdrawing its support and finances across a number of social sectors, CSOs are appearing to be ever more important in bridging the shortfall. The emergence of migrant CSOs and the general diversification of Chinese society can be understood within China’s economic reforms, leading to unprecedented levels of internal migration. In the case of migrant CSOs, they have surfaced to tackle the diverse challenges migrant workers face, given the failure of central and local states to address their welfare. The state recognises its own shortcomings in the provision of welfare, and has therefore accepted the involvement of CSOs, but with trepidation due to their potential threat to social and political instability. The Beijing and Shanghai case-studies reveal the critical importance of looking at the local level when analysing state-society relationship. Fieldwork consisting of in-depth interviews with migrant CSOs’ project sites, are the foundations for the study. Fieldwork data reveal that the Chinese state is not a single entity, but manifests in various forms of new and old spaces including local and international CSOs, and the government’s mass organisations. Through the study of migrant CSOs, we see state actively co-opting these CSOs to meet its own agenda. However, we also see the CSOs adopting strategies in negotiating with different levels of the state in order to optimise their work. |
