This book investigates how NGOs in authoritarian states, such as China, craft accountability and legitimacy to ensure their survival. It explores this through the lens of child welfare organisations from 2007 to 2017. The authors provide a fresh approach to accountability that is more attuned to the particular conditions of authoritarianism. The project explores the effects of power relations in shaping the hierarchies of accountability and participation that emerge and the attention given to different voices such as those of donor, government, and users. Essential reading for researchers and policy makers interested in development, NGO, social policy, political science, and child welfare studies.

As the fastest growing segment of civil society, as well as featuring prominently in the global political arena, NGOs are under fire for being 'unaccountable'. But who do NGOs actually represent? Who should they be accountable to and how? This book provides the first comprehensive examination of the issues and politics of NGO accountability across all sectors and internationally. It offers an assessment of the key technical tools available including legal accountability, certification and donor-based accountability regimes, and questions whether these are appropriate and viable options or attempts to 'roll-back' NGOs to a more one-dimensional function as organizers of national and global charity. Input and case studies are provided from NGOs such as ActionAid, and from every part of the globe including China, Indonesia and Uganda. In the spirit of moving towards greater accountability the book looks in detail at innovations that have developed from within NGOs and offers new approaches and flexible frameworks that enable accountability to become a reality for all parties worldwide.

This volume presents a comparison of the experiences of NGOs in China and Europe. The chapters on China contain the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of various types of NGOs currently active in the country. The contributions on foreign NGOs in China, non-governmental think tanks, public interest legal organizations, labour related NGOs and charity organizations, are the first in English to discuss successful experiences as well as the difficulties they face in the post-Mao era. The European studies draw examples from countries where the experiences of NGOs are at various stages of development. The section on NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe examines the rapid expansion of civil society and their pivotal role in promoting political change and building democracy in a transitional society, as well as the challenges they confront in advancing a strong civil society. Those chapters on NGOs' experiences in Western European countries, especially in the Netherlands and the UK, provide insightful information and examination of the most contentious issues concerning NGOs' accountability, governance and relationship with the government.

This book investigates how NGOs in authoritarian states, such as China, craft accountability and legitimacy to ensure their survival. It explores this through the lens of child welfare organisations from 2007 to 2017. The authors provide a fresh approach to accountability that is more attuned to the particular conditions of authoritarianism. The project explores the effects of power relations in shaping the hierarchies of accountability and participation that emerge and the attention given to different voices such as those of donor, government, and users. Essential reading for researchers and policy makers interested in development, NGO, social policy, political science, and child welfare studies.

Over the past two decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has paradoxically steered the development of a thriving capitalist economy. Unlike many faltering post-socialist states with fragile economies and weakly institutionalised democratic structures, China has witnessed a tide of economic entrepreneurialism that has raised living standards and the country's global economic stature. However, the strains of rapid economic change and the tensions between an increasingly liberalized economy and the partially reformed institutions of an authoritarian polity have become increasingly severe. Crucial to the success of further economic reform and development, good governance is the greatest challenge faced by the CCP. This groundbreaking book explores the key dimensions of governance in China. These include the prospects for political reform as a new generation of leaders comes to power and China enters the World Trade Organization; the processes of building institutions, such as developing a clean, competent, and meritocracy-based civil service, and improving the legislative framework; enhancing regime legitimacy through the sharing of power at lower levels and promoting citizen participation and voice; and finally the prevention and management of social discontent, with particular reference to worker unrest and the Falun Gong. Drawing on original fieldwork, the international group of authors provides a systematic analysis of the political, institutional, and economic causes underlying China's governance problems and considers the prospects for future social and political change.

Rana Siu Inboden examines China's role in the international human rights regime between 1982 and 2017 and, through this lens, explores China's rising position in the world. Focusing on three major case studies – the drafting and adoption of the Convention against Torture and the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council, and the International Labour Organization's Conference Committee on the Application of Standards – Inboden shows China's subtle yet persistent efforts to constrain the international human rights regime. Based on a range of documentary and archival research, as well as extensive interview data, Inboden provides fresh insights into the motivations and influences driving China's conduct and explores China's rising position as a global power.

This report documents interventions by China at the UN that hinder UN efforts to improve human rights in China and around the world. In that sense, it is a case study of how a powerful member state works within the UN system to undermine its ability to strengthen global compliance with international human rights norms. It also examines UN responses to date, offering detailed recommendations on what UN officials and institutions can do to better protect civil society participation at the UN and safeguard the integrity of the UN human rights system. China’s efforts to subvert the UN human rights system also need to be scrutinized because they have been adopted by other countries. China should not become a model for others that hope to hobble or obstruct UN human rights bodies.