Social Service Provision In Contemporary China: Civil Society and State Responses to a Changing Welfare Regime 

Organizer and Chair: Jonathan Schwartz, State University of New York, New Paltz

Discussant: Shawn Shieh, Marist College

This panel explores issues of state capacity and social welfare to expand our understanding of the changing relationship between the Chinese state and society, as well as the Janus-faced approach of the Chinese state to society. On the one hand, faced with reduced welfare provision capacity, the Chinese state appears to enable or even encourage society based initiatives. On the other hand, it seems to re-assert control over certain aspects of welfare provision. Each panelist develops a specific case study to address the changing nature of this state-society relationship. Keyser focuses on state responses to the needs of children at risk in urban areas, arguing that the creation and implementation of child welfare policy is driven by a cooperative relationship where social groups have a policy impact on re-casting the state society relationship. Laliberte argues that faced with its declining capacity to provide social services in some poorer regions, the state is undergoing a major shift as it accepts the principle of assistance from religious organizations. Tsai argues that village governmental performance, as reflected by public goods provision, is heavily influenced by village social institutions rather than bureaucratic Institutions.  Described as "solidary groups" these institutions incorporate villagers who share interests and obligations. Schwartz, on the other hand, identifies conditions where the state successfully reasserts the authority of the central government over social welfare issues. Drawing on the SARS outbreak as a case study, he argues that the state retains the capacity to act effectively in specific situations.

From the "Iron Rice Bowl" to "Compassionate Relief": Towards a Residual Welfare Regime in China
Andre Laliberte, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada

In a context where State’s retrenchment in the provision of social services and the concomitant revival of religious fervour in China have led many to argue that the Communist Party faces a crisis of legitimacy, the passing of a new law on religion in March 2005 that authorizes religious organizations to conduct public welfare activities (shehui gongyi) raises important issues about social welfare policy in China. The paper argues that while historical reasons prevent the Chinese government from promoting a variant of the American "faith-based initiative"(xinyang jihua), Chinese policy-makers are adopting a model of social policy that bears similarities with the American residual welfare regime. In the Chinese approach, religious organizations are increasingly called upon to provide emergency relief, help orphans and succour marginalized people, but are not expected to engage in advocacy. The paper argues that within these institutional constraints an increasingly symbiotic relationship is emerging between the Communist Party and the officially approved religious institutions. The former see the latter as useful in the provision of catastrophic relief, while religious institutions see in the state’s demand an opportunity to recover lost ground and reassert their authority vis-à-vis emerging religious movements. The evidence used for the paper includes fieldwork in Hubei, Hebei and Anhui; works produced by members of the Chinese epistemic communities involved in welfare policy; proceedings from recent conferences on religion and ethics; and ethics publications from philanthropic organizations such as the Hong Kong-based Cihui fojiao jijinhui, the Taiwan-based Ciji Gongdehui, and the Hebei fojiao cishan gongdehui.

The Role of the Chinese State in Child Welfare
Catherine H. Keyser, Drew University

As China develops and the state’s role in social welfare provision is being redefined, at risk children—those abandoned, homeless, abused or otherwise neglected pose questions about capacity and the relationship between the state, locality, and society in the creation and implantation of child welfare policies  How the state and other non-governmental organizations address issues of caring for the most fragile segment of Chinese society reveal much about the nature of China’s transition away from state socialism.  Set in the context of reduced state-capacity for welfare provision, and drawing on recent legal and conceptual developments concerning children this paper analyzes the framework for addressing child welfare as it has been articulated among academics and policy makers at the state and local level in China in recent years as well as the growing reliance on social based organizations to provide welfare for China’s children .  The focus of analysis is the intersection of formal state institutions with the non-governmental and associational communities that have emerged to implement, and in some cases drive, the development of child welfare policy and services in several large urban centers in China.

Lily Tsai, MIT

Findings from a unique combination of in-depth case studies and an original survey of 316 randomly sampled villages in four provinces indicate that neither well implemented elections nor top-down institutions of bureaucratic control have any major effects on village governmental performance as reflected by governmental public goods provision.  Instead, what do have an important effect are a village’s social institutions.  Even when formal democratic and bureaucratic institutions of accountability are weak, government officials can be subject to unofficial rules and norms that establish and enforce their public obligations.  These informal institutions of accountability can be provided by solidary groups – social groups in which membership is based not only on common interests but shared obligations – which encompass everyone in the village and incorporate the participation of village officials.  In the context of rural China, solidary groups typically take the form of village temple organizations or village-wide lineage groups that are open to everyone in the village.  This paper presents extensive evidence showing that villages where these groups exist are more likely to have better public goods provision than villages without these solidary groups, all other things being equal.

Causes of Effective Policy Implementation: China's Public Health Response to SARS
Jonathan Schwartz, State University of New York, New Paltz

With the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), China faced the challenge of overcoming a potentially devastating, unknown infectious disease spreading across its provinces.  The initial assessment of China's response to SARS was quite negative (Economist, NY Times), with much of the blame attributed to the impacts of a reduced role for the state in health care provision.  However, this negative assessment changed as China proved highly capable at limiting and finally gaining control over the disease. How do we understand the process of recentralizing control over a social issue in light of a generally reduced state capacity? What does the SARS example reveal about the changing state-society relationship where it concerns infectious disease control?

In addressing these questions, the paper draws on the Chinese political institutions literature - focussing on the debate over the impact of decentralization on the capacity of the central government to implement policy goals. This literature is supplemented with extensive interview data collected in China over Summer 2005. The paper focuses on the changing policy, regulatory and societal responses, identifying key actions and actors that contributed to successful disease control.  It then evaluates the lessons that can be derived from the Chinese experience in the face of inevitable future infectious disease outbreaks.