Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.9, 2015

The Institutional Environment and the Development of Contemporary Chinese Social Organizations

(Abstract)

Huang Xiaochun

Existing research into contemporary Chinese social organizations lacks in-depth analysis of the consequences of policy implementation, consequences that may have been produced by the relevant policy environment. This means that academia lacks knowledge of the actual incentives and constraints faced in the development of social organizations and is unable to grasp the overall traits of the current development of social organizations. By introducing the relevant theories into research into governmental behavior and focusing on the practical processes by which local governments develop social organizations under the twofold influence of institutional production risks and weak incentives, as well as on the mechanisms by which governments at different levels, in the course of interaction, shape the institutional environment of social organizations, one can distinguish, at the mid-level, the developmental traits of contemporary Chinese social organizations; extend the existing research discourse domain, with its basis in the “state-society” perspective; further generalize the “fuzzy contract” policy implementation model in the sphere of social organizations, and explore some new research directions.