This book is the first monograph to provide a multilevel analysis of power dynamics underlying the governance of philanthropic foundations in the authoritarian context of China. As a special kind of organization with a democratic culture, Chinese foundations’ governance is under more pressure than we realize. The government has been evolving its methods to impose stringent control over foundations (Chapter 3) and “purer” foundations highly dependent on individual donations are more likely to adopt authoritarian leadership styles rather than being mechanisms spreading democratic values in Chinese society (Chapter 4). However, this practice does not come without a price. Given power’s double-edge of both enabling and constraining effects, although strongman leaders may use their power to get things done, their power may also cause the problem of accountability (Chapter 5). Overall, Chinese society is a stable system with authoritarian power modes. This system is not static but in constant flux, homogenizing incompatible parts until all units of the system adopt the same power mode. This book establishes a comprehensive and bleak picture of the unfavorable conditions foundations in China face and provides valuable insights to understand the future of the nonprofit sector in China. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of sociology, political science, and nonprofit studies (NGO management). It will also be a valuable resource for NGP practitioners.

How are non-governmental organizations (NGOs) governed in the authoritarian context of China? Adopting a perspective of power, this thesis investigates in-depth the governance of Chinese NGOs at the macro-, meso- and micro-level in three chapters. Multiple statistical techniques are used to analyze primary as well as secondary data collected from philanthropic foundations in China. The first chapter focuses on the societal level, examining how the authoritarian government governs and steers the NGO sector at the macro level. Through multilevel modeling, the findings show that the Chinese government has adopted a more sophisticated, indirect approach rather than using direct control to govern and regulate NGOs in China. The second chapter focuses on the organizational level, examining the internal governance and particularly the leadership style within Chinese NGOs. Through box plots and ordinary least squares regression, the results suggest that leaders of Chinese NGOs have a more democratic-orientated leadership style than people from other types of organizations such as government agencies and private corporations; however, this leadership style becomes less democratic under the influence of public donations in China. The third chapter turns to the individual level, conceptualizing and measuring CEO power by proposing a two-dimensional (structural power and individual power) framework and multiple indicators. Through factor analysis and ordered logistic regression, the findings show that CEOs' individual power has no significant effects on financial performance, while structural power presents a double-edged effect: it is positively associated with one kind of organizational effectiveness (public donations) but has a negative impact on another (overhead costs). This thesis makes contributions to the literature in two ways: (1) theoretically, this study takes an under-explored power perspective, which not only provides a more consistent and unified perspective for understanding the public governance and nonprofit governance of NGOs but also sheds new light on these longstanding topics; (2) empirically, primary data on Chinese NGOs, especially regarding internal governance and management, are scarce. This thesis develops different ways to operationalize governance and power and also provides new empirical evidence on the organizational governance of NGOs in China. In summary, this thesis establishes a comprehensive picture of how NGOs are governed in the authoritarian context of China. As a special kind of organization with a democratic mandate, NGO governance in the authoritarian context of China is under more pressure than we realize.

How is modern civil society created? There are few contemporary studies on this important question and when it is addressed, scholars tend to emphasize the institutional environment that facilitates a modern civil society. However, there is a need for a new perspective on this issue. Contemporary China, where a modern civil society remains in a nascent stage, offers a valuable site to seek new answers. Through a comparative analysis of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in today’s China, this study shows the importance of the human factor, notably the NGO leadership, in the establishment of a modern civil society. In particular, in recognition of the social nature of NGOs, this study engages in a comparative examination of Chinese NGO leaders’ state linkage, media connections and international ties in order to better understand how each factor contributes to effective NGOs.

This thought-provoking book explores the functions of charitable foundations in the People's Republic of China. Using both empirical fieldwork and extensive textual analysis, it examines the role of foundations in Chinese society and their relationship with the Chinese government, and provides a new, functional perspective on the role of foundations, complementing mainstream civil society and corporatist perspectives.

This dissertation hypothesized a theory of differentiated government control that posits the strength of NGOs' political connections is positively associated with their major revenues in authoritarian China. This dissertation quantitatively tested this theory using a sample of 2,021 foundations in China. The main findings are as follows.First, organizational legitimacy, i.e., nonprofit evaluation, tax exemption qualification, and pretax deduction qualification are positively associated with foundations' donation income; higher degrees of political connections count only partially the more charitable donations; political connections potentially leverage the association between pretax deduction qualification and charitable donations in favor of politically connected foundations.Second, foundations' political connections are partially positively associated with their income from government grants; issue area (meaning what foundation work on) is not significantly associated with government grants; among organizational legitimacy measures only nonprofit evaluation shows a positive relationship with government grants; however, nonprofit evaluation matters only for foundations with strong political connections.Third, different levels of political connections show different levels of association with both charitable donations and government grants that foundations received. Specifically, individual political connections are associated with neither source of revenues; organizational political connections remain associated with charitable donations and government grants as discussed above; the two levels of political connections do not interact; the insignificance of individual political connections may indicate the government's retreat from despotic intervention of foundation operations.The findings in this dissertation suggest that the Chinese government has adapted its strategies to control the nonprofit sector through the use of more sophisticated measures than are generally acknowledged. To some extent, differentiated government control consolidates the recent research on the multidimensions of government-nonprofit relations in China.