Book Project

Manuscript in Preparation

The NGO Paradox: Outsourcing and Legitimacy in China

Contrary to the conventional view that autocracies suppress civil society, China has experienced a remarkable expansion of the NGOs sector, growing from fewer than 10 registered organizations in the late 1980s to 800,000 in 2019. The growth of the NGO sector is not unique to China but also evident in other authoritarian regimes. While existing research has examined how NGOs navigate state control, it has not fully explained why authoritarian states actively promote their growth. This book aims to explore the paradoxical role of NGOs in China, arguing that the state strategically fosters their expansion to enhance social stability while maintaining political control. Through mechanisms like outsourcing social services and regulatory co-optation, the Chinese government has been succesful in garnering state legitimacy through the NGO sector. By analyzing these counterintuitive dynamics, this study aims to challenges pre-existing assumptions on state-civil society relations and offers new insights into state-society relations in China and beyond. Empirical evidence is drawn from fieldwork, original survey, primary and secondary sources, and case studies.