Jessica C. Teets

Advocacy under Xi: NPO Strategies to Influence Policy Change

Abstract Under the Hu-Wen administration, scholars analyzed how political opportunity structures (POS) affect the policy influence of NPOs in China, and found that the opportunity structure was relatively more open, especially for NPOs using personal connections. In this article, we focus on changes in the opportunity structure since Xi Jinping came to power after 2012, and find that the more closed political climate has had important consequences for NPO policy advocacy. We identify three strategies that NPOs have used to advocate, such as using the law, media framing, and establishing expert status. While these strategies are not novel, we argue that the weighting has shifted in terms of what leads to success.

Civil Society Participation in Local Governance

I wish to thank the DILG-WB-CSO committee that invited me to speak in behalf of civil society. I was rather vocal in an earlier meeting of that committee and then absent in the following meeting. The committee chose me then because I could not object. So the lesson is: Don’t be absent . . . unless there is something you want very much to share. Fortunately for me, there are indeed a few things I want very much to say. Eight things, in fact.