andrewheiss / compassionate-clam Goto Github PK

Kathy's (funder of ChinaFile if remembered correctly ) Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-wilhelm-31125542/

https://www.chinafile.com/ngo/latest/temporary-activities-filterable-table

Just to illustrate that more contentious organizations like Greanpeace are (maybe?) using temporary activities to work in the country instead of becoming ROs

From Lauren MacLean:

Not sure about using the number of provinces that INGOs are allowed to operate in as a proxy for their operational space. Wouldn’t some INGOs choose to operate in a more localized space? You seem to acknowledge this later on p. 13. I’m not sure that the provinces permitted is a good measure of the possibility of constricting space for civil society. The number of provinces is really skewed – with high number of O values and high number of ALL. What does this mean for the analysis and your interpretation of the implementation of this law? Seems like all or nothing. You talk about this in terms of your modeling strategy but I would like to get a sense of your interpretation of this descriptive data first.

We can justify this by talking about local connections earlier too. For INGOs with a local focus, there's no need to pursue nationwide reach, so geographic reach doesn't matter - that's why we control for local connections - it matters a lot. For INGOs without a local focus, though, they arguably care about having a wider reach to get more access to the country

Do states see NGOs as politically neutral? In theory they should, since that's the idea of the third sector, but we show that they don't—NGOs are political actors here

Explain the specific case of Greenpeace?

From Lauren MacLean:

The hypothesis that less contentious INGOs would be less restricted seems straightforward. But, I am still not clear about how you conceptualize and measure “contentiousness”. I would not have predicted education to be more contentious than environment for example. Can you make it more clear how you are arriving at these estimations? Also, is this going to be empirically bounded by various states and regimes? So China-specific in this case?

From Lauren MacLean:

It’s not clear whether this ONGO law applies to NGOs doing more explicitly political work on human rights, environmental justice, labor rights, etc.?

From Lauren MacLean:

The finding that is the reverse of your expectation seems intuitive to me. It may be that there is an increase in bureaucratic competence. Or an increase in learning that is shared among INGOs over time. Are there any umbrella organizations or TANs where INGOs working in China might share information about the registration process or share personal contacts for facilitating the process?

From Lauren MacLean:

We need to be clear as scholars about the theoretical implications of the case selection choices we make. What is China or Cote d’Ivoire a case of? What are the broader set of cases that these analyses might speak to? Methodologically, both papers have innovative strategies for gathering data which yielded new datasets. These were earlier drafts for each of the authors but it’s important to organize the chapter or paper in a way that is analytically driven – rather than by the specific data collection effort.

Also:

China is a fascinating case. I would like to see more in the research design about what TYPE of case it represents theoretically.

Another similar question:

Can NGOs renew short-term projects? What happens when their programs last longer than a year?

From Lauren MacLean:

Is bureaucratic time in administration a good proxy for restrictions?

(comment by Nina Kankanyan at MPSA)

From Lauren MacLean:

It’s important to be clear that China’s law regulates “overseas NGOs”, which is a different dynamic than the restrictions on local NGOs. The political threat is perceived in different terms as the threat of foreign influence and intervention in political sovereignty rather than an internal political threat from what are frequently perceived as opposition-aligned NGOs. What are the implications of this difference?