Nonprofit Policy Advocacy under Authoritarianism

• Author: Shui‐Yan Tang,Carlos Wing‐Hung Lo,Hui Li
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12585
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Date: 01 January 2017

Nonprof‌i t Policy Advocacy under Authoritarianism 103

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 1, pp. 103–117. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12585.

Shui-Yan Tang is the Frances R.

and John J. Duggan Professor of Public

Administration in the Price School

of Public Policy at the University of

Southern California. His research focuses

on institutional analysis and design,

common-pool resource governance, and

collaborative governance. He is author of

Ten Principles for a Rule-Ordered Society:

Enhancing China ’ s Governing Capacity

(China Economic Publishing House, 2012)

and

Institutions, Regulatory Styles, Society,

and Environmental Governance in China

(with Carlos Lo; Routledge, 2014). He is a

fellow of the National Academy of Public

Administration.

E-mail: stang@usc.edu

Carlos Wing-Hung Lo is professor and

head of the Department of Management

and Marketing at the Hong Kong

Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. His

main research interests are in the areas

of law and government, environmental

management, public sector management,

cultural heritage management, and

corporate social and environmental

responsibility, within the contexts of

China and Hong Kong. He is coauthor of

Institutions, Regulatory Styles, Society,

and Environmental Governance in China

(Routledge, 2014).

E-mail: carlos.lo@polyu.edu.hk

Hui Li is a PhD candidate in the Price

School of Public Policy at the University

of Southern California. She will be

assistant professor in the School of

Public Administration at the University of

Central Florida starting in August 2016.

Her research interests include public and

nonprofit management, organization theory,

collaborations, and NGO–government

relations. Her current research examines

the development of environmental NGOs

in China.

E-mail: lihui@usc.edu

Abstract : Despite the increasing volume and significance of research on nonprofit advocacy, most studies have focused

on the phenomenon only in Wester n countries. This article expands the scope of the literature by examining the

advocacy activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in authoritarian China. This article focuses on three

aspects of advocacy behavior : advocacy investment and use of insider and outsider tactics. Data analyses of an original

nationwide survey of 267 environmental NGOs and semistructured interviews with 30 highlight how resource and

institutional factors—government funding, government affiliation, foundation funding, and peer collaborations—

shape NGO advocacy in China. The findings also suggest ways in which institutional actors may enhance NGOs’

capacity for policy advocacy.

Practitioner Points

• If government officials want to facilitate peaceful transitions of authoritarian regimes, they need to allow

more NGOs to operate and give them more support.

• Foundations operating under authoritarianism may play a more active role as change agents by building

NGO capacity through the strategic use of multiyear grants and the provision of more generous overhead to

deserving NGOs.

• NGOs may be able to leverage collaborative efforts among themselves as a way to enhance their overall

engagement in policy investment and advocacy.

P olicy advocacy is broadly defined as any attempt

to influence government decisions through

both direct and indirect means, including

contacting government, educating the public, and

mobilizing at the grassroots level (Reid 1999 ). While

many nonprofits engage in policy advocacy, they

vary in their advocacy investment and tactics (Boris

and Mosher-Williams 1998 ; Jenkins 2006 ; Mosley

2011 ). Nonetheless, the literature has focused mainly

on the advocacy activities of nonprofits in Western

democratic states (Almog-Bar and Schmid 2014 ;

Kim and Kim 2015 ), with very little attention paid

to nongovernmental organization (NGO) advocacy

in authoritarian regimes.

1 This article expands the

scope of the literature by empirically examining the

following research question: given the specific context

of authoritarianism, how do various institutional

forces—the government, foundations, and the

nonprofit sector itself—affect NGOs’ advocacy

activities?

Government officials in authoritarian states have

mixed views on NGOs. On the one hand, they may

impose severe constraints on the development and

operations of NGOs, partly driven by their fear

that freewheeling civic NGOs may become vehicles

for challenging authoritarian rule (Heurlin 2010 ;

Spires 2011a ; Wiktorowicz 2002 ). As Bratton notes,

“NGOs may sow seeds of political discontent and

provide organizational channels through which

opposition can be mounted against an incumbent

regime” (1989, 572). NGOs in Kenya, Indonesia,

Thailand, Chile, and Vietnam, for example, have

mobilized to protect and expand democratic space

(Clarke 1998 ). In response, many regimes have used

various tools to regulate NGOs. In Kazakhstan, for

example, the Civil Code limits political activities by

narrowly defining NGOs as social or philanthropic

organizations (Wiktorowicz 2002 ). In recent years,

however, several authoritarian regimes have begun to

realize that NGOs can help support service delivery

and resolve social conflicts (Teets 2013 ). In China,

for example, two distinct types of NGOs coexist: civic

NGOs initiated by private citizens and government-

organized NGOs (hereafter called GONGOs) that

are either spin-offs of government-affiliated service

organizations or direct creations of government

agencies (Tang and Lo 2009 ). Both types of NGOs

have used government funding to provide collective

goods. GONGOs have traditionally been funded

Hui Li

University of Southern California

Carlos Wing-Hung Lo

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Shui-Yan Tang

University of Southern California

Nonprofit Policy Advocacy under Authoritarianism