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Disaster, Security, and Governance. MAGG Spring 2014 Bin Xu Assistant Professor Florida International University. OK, this is hilarious…. http:// www.hulu.com/watch/610744?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=tv. Civil Society. Public sphere Associational sphere. Kobe Earthquake (1995).
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Disaster, Security, and Governance MAGG Spring 2014 Bin Xu Assistant Professor Florida International University
OK, this is hilarious… • http://www.hulu.com/watch/610744?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=tv
Civil Society • Public sphere • Associational sphere
Kobe Earthquake (1995) • January 17, 1995 • 7.2 on the Richter scale • 6,434 killed • Damages
Shimin Sakai (Civil Society) • Three meanings of shiminsakai: • The modern society independent from the state • A socialist society • Voluntary and non-profit organizations • Terminology • Non-governmental organizations: overseas NGOs • Non-profit organizations:
Shimin Sakai (Civil Society) • Statism: many emerged from the state instead of the product of grassroots citizen pressures; the state’s suspicion about large, independent associations; patron-client relationship between the state and quasi-civil associations
Civil Society Response After the Earthquake • Local NGO coalition in Kobe • Sheer scale of volunteerism: 1.5 million volunteers • Coordinating problem; the government’s suspicion • New NGOs emerged from the earthquake response; existing ones adapted to the new challenges • The Kobe Action Plan
Turkey • Civil society before the 1999 earthquake • A weak civil society • Legal restrictions: no organizations can be based upon regional, ethnic, religious, or class identity; no public association should pursue political goals until 1995 amendments • The military’s intervention
Turkey • 1999 Marmara earthquake • Death toll: 17,000 • The state under criticisms
Turkey • Civil society’s volunteering: The Search and Rescue Association (AKUT) • The state’s restrictions and condemnation • The civil society fought back: manifesto (09/01/1999) and sit-in • The state’s limited concession but the control remains strong
Chinese Civil Society before the Earthquake • Rapid development • The state’s restriction on registration • The state’s differential methods of dealing with NGOs: • No political organizations • Restrictions on grassroots organizations • GONGOs (Government-Organized Non-governmental Organizations)
Questions • What particular features of the Sichuan earthquake made civil-society participation possible? • Under what structural and situational conditions do the authoritarian state and civil society cooperate and is civil society consequently able to develop?
Why are the questions important? • The literature on Chinese civil society does not adequately address situation (temporal variation): How does the civil society’s interaction with the state vary across situations? • What kind of crises can facilitate cooperation? What are the general features of such crises?
Consensus Crisis • The Sichuan earthquake is a case of “consensus crisis,” a favorable situation for civil society’s large-scale participation in public actions and its subsequent development.
Consensus Crisis: Characteristics • The state’s administrative ability is challenged. • A substantive need for civil society’s service and assistance. • A general agreement on goals and priorities. • The state has a strong desire to construct a morally respectable image.
The Sichuan earthquake as a consensus crisis • The Chinese state’s administrative capacity was challenged • scale • Immediate and urgent need
The Sichuan earthquake as a consensus crisis • Need for civil society’s service • The inadequate and overwhelmed GONGOs • An opening in the political opportunity structure for civil society’s participation. • The need was reinforced by official discourse of moral altruism
The Sichuan earthquake as a consensus crisis • A general consensus on goals and priorities • The state’s “moralized performance legitimacy” • The state’s structural incentives to mobilize every possible resources to respond to the challenge
The Sichuan earthquake as a consensus crisis • Constructing a moral image in the Olympic year • The state’s moral image crisis in the Olympic year
Impacts of consensus crisis • Two opinions about the Sichuan earthquake participation: birth year of the Chinese civil society; short-term euphoria • Some positive changes: development of service-oriented organizations • The positive impacts were constrained by long-term features of the political opportunity structure
Conclusion • How does the concept “consensus crisis” contribute to the debates about Chinese civil society? • The Neo-Tocquevillian approach • Corporatism • Stronger support to the third approach—a more dynamic and contingent state-society relationship