Embedded Citizenship in a SemiAuthoritarian Context: Book Presentation

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Embedded Citizenship in a Semi-Authoritarian
ContextBook Presentation

• Peter Ho and
• Richard Edmonds
• Faculty of Spatial Sciences
• University of Groningen and University of Chicago

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Citizenship A birds eye view

• A status bestowed on those who are full members
  of a community. All who possess the status are
  equal with respect to the rights and duties with
  which the status is endowed.
• (T. H. Marshall, Citizenship and Social Class,
  1950)
• Critique
• Static
• Statist
• Connected with nation-state

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A British Sikh in Europe

• Old definition neglects
• Multi-layered identities by which people define
  themselves
• Identities reflect different rights, obligations
  and interests that citizens have
• Regional space
• National space
• Transnational
• Global space

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Canadian case

• Just treatment of minority groups
• 2 types polyethnic/immigrant groups and national
  minorities
• Latter deserve unique rights, former less
  deserving such rights (exception refugees)
• (Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship, 1995)

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Elements multicultural citizenship

• Rooted in liberalism by replacing individual
  with group
• Group (individual) is autonomous
• Group (individual) enjoys
• Freedom of expression conscience association
  and other rights associated with liberal
  democracies
• Protected from state intrusions on citizens
  group (individual) liberties

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Chinese citizenship

• Chinese Constitution, Article 33
• All persons holding nationality of People's
  Republic of China are citizens of PRC
• All citizens of PRC are equal before law
• Every citizen is entitled to rights and must
  perform duties prescribed by Constitution
• Right and duty to work, right to and duty of
  education, duty to honor and defend the
  motherland, and duty to pay taxes

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Does the liberal citizen fit in the Chinese
context?

• China semi-authoritarian polity
• State grants rights, rather than citizens
  demanding these
• Confucian influence strong social hierarchy
• Embedded Chinese citizenship Green activism

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Embeddedness

• Social Actor Autonomy vs. Contextualization of
  human action
• Trust Impersonalized relations in formalized
  conditions vs. personal relations in informal
  conditions
• (Granovetter, 1984 and Polanyi, 1940)

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Semi-authoritarian context

• Registration with MOCA and sponsoring institution
  (zhuguan bumen)
• Number of members cannot exceed 50
• Minimum financial resources of 100,000 Rmb for
  national and 30,000 Rmb for regional social
  organization
• Within same administrative area no other
  organization allowed
• No right of appeal if application is rejected

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Embedded context of Chinese green activism
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Paradox of Chinese Activism

• Self-imposed censorship
• De-politicization of politics
• Non-confrontational tactics no movement
• Localized instead of nationalized protests

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Other side of paradox

• Green NGOs in China
• set up as company Global Village of Beijing
• set up as research institute Beijing Science and
  Technology Association, now daughter companies
  under Chaolun Technology and Development
  Company
• No registration, informal salon e.g.
  Environmental Information Network

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Sharp rise of Green NGOs in China
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Embedded but not silent
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Embedded activism

• Not an activity with a fair degree of autonomy
  and self-regulation, but occupies a social space
  that is enmeshed in a web of interpersonal
  relations, informal rules, and shared ideas.
• Yet, different from a suppressed activism these
  embedding conditions both limit environmentalism,
  while enabling it.
• Ho and Edmonds, Embedded Activism in China,
  (Routledge, 2008)

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• 1,0 million Euro funded by Dutch Ministry of
  Foreign Affairs
• Strengthening hardware software of NGOs
• Improved communication between state and NGOs
• Research on environmentalism and civil society

More info www.rug.nl/cds