The Advocacy Trap : Transnational Activism and State Power in China

The tale of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) is typically one of non-state actors reshaping world politics through the power of persuasion and principled ideas. This book is about the unromantic and often uncomfortable realities of transnational advocacy in a strong authoritarian state and rising world power. Drawing together case studies that span a range of issues, repertoires, and results of advocacy, it elaborates the constitutive role of the state in contemporary transnational activism. Because transnational networks are significant globally and domestically, the book speaks to students of comparative and international politics, bridging what is treated here as a superficial divide between the sub-fields. It discusses the campaigns around justice for Falun Gong and the strengthening of intellectual property rights in China. The book then traces the campaign around HIV/AIDS treatment, and the effort to abolish capital punishment in China. In the campaign for Tibetan independence, Chinese intransigence on the matter of national sovereignty for Tibet produced a split within the TAN. The book argues that that TANs can be effective when a legitimacy-seeking state deems the adoption of new policy positions in a given issue area to be critical for the preservation of its own moral authority and power monopoly. The key to working more effectively in China, therefore, is to recognize the source of Chinese Communist Party legitimacy and the connectedness of an issue to it. Those wishing to approach China recognize and take seriously the Chinese power to shape global issues and campaigns in support of them. 'Built on a unique blend of comparative and international theory, this book explores what happens when globalized networks of activists engage a powerful, resiliently authoritarian, and norm-resistant new hegemon. The book advances the notion of 'advocacy drift'-a process whereby the objectives and principled beliefs of activists are transformed through interaction with the Chinese state. It offers a timely reassessment of transnational civil society, its power to persuade and to leverage the policies of national governments, and provides insight into the ethical dilemmas posed by China's domestic reforms and global rise. The empirical core of the book comprises a comparative analysis of six transnational advocacy campaigns in China, including the ones around Falun Gong, protection of intellectual property rights, global warming, Tibetan independence, HIV/AIDS treatment, and the abolition of capital punishment. The approach facilitates the elaboration of factors likely to help or hinder transnational advocacy in China, and provides snapshots of the multiple functional forms taken by TAN campaigns in China. Drawing from a range of intellectual disciplines and approaches, The advocacy trap is must read for students and scholars of China's role in global governance, and anyone seeking closer engagement with Beijing in a globally interdependent age' --Back cover What does China's rise mean for transnational civil society? What happens when global activist networks engage a powerful and norm-resistant new hegemon? This book combines detailed ethnographic research with cross-case comparisons to identify key factors underpinning variation in the results and processes of advocacy on a range of issues affecting both China and the world, including global warming, intellectual property rights, HIV/AIDS treatment, the use of capital punishment, suppression of the Falun Gong religious movement, and Tibetan independence. Built on a unique blend of comparative and international theory, it advances the notion of “advocacy drift”—a process whereby the objectives and principled beliefs of activists are transformed through interaction with the Chinese state. The book offers a timely reassessment of transnational civil society, including its power to persuade and to leverage the policies of national governments. Front matter Contents Series editors’ foreword Acknowledgements Introduction: The superpower’s dilemma: to appease, repress, or transform transnational advocacy networks? Mechanisms of persuasion: when and how are advocacy campaigns effective? The power of state preferences: the ‘natural cases’ of the campaigns for Falun Gong and IPR protection Reading the ‘lay of the land’: intercessory advocacy and causal process in the HIV/AIDS treatment and dealth penalty abolitionist campaigns State-directed advocacy: the ‘drift’ phenomenon in the ‘free Tibet’ and global warming campaigns Strategic considerations, tough choices: how state preferences influence campaign forms Conclusion: State power as reality References Index This book asks what happens to transnational civil society actors as a result of their engagement with China, recognising its status and influence as a rising world power. Taking an interactive and processed-based approach, it aims to explain the multiple, divergent pathways or functional forms of advocacy campaigns in China.