China’s Embedded Activism: Conflict, Civic action and Environment in a Semi-Authoritarian Context

China’s Embedded Activism: Conflict, Civic action and Environment in a Semi-Authoritarian Context
Peter Ho (Chair Professor of Chinese Economy and Development and Director of the European Research Council (ERC) Project on Land Policy and Administration in China.)
Green Templeton College, Barclays Room
Saturday, October 31, 12.00- 13.00
“Social activism in China is not an activity with a fair degree of autonomy, but occupies a social space enmeshed in a web of interpersonal relations, informal rules, and shared ideas. Yet, different from a repressed activism these embedding conditions both limit it, while simultaneously making it possible. (…) As a result, there is less risk of social instability and repression at the hand of the governing elite”
The emergence of social movements is generally seen as an indicator of democratization. The presentation argues that such a view overlooks the nature of political change in China, which entails a more gradual transition. In this light, several questions will be highlighted. What does the limited political space imply for the development of a social movement in China? Is the possibility for a social movement a precondition for the development of civil society? What are the prospects for the emergence of a social movement in China, and how would it relate to international forces? These questions are explored by focusing on one of the most active areas of civil society in contemporary China: the environmental realm. It is maintained that China’s semi-authoritarian political setup in association with increased social spaces for civic action has created a milieu for embeddedness in social movement. Contrary to totalitarian control, the semiauthoritarian environment is restrictive, but paradoxically, also conducive to nationwide, voluntary collective action.