Reza Hasmath

This talk explores the relationship between volunteerism, philanthropy, and civic engagement in contemporary China. It discusses new forms of citizen-led initiatives that are complementary to, or supplanting, state-led ones.

See the accompanying papers:

1. Citizens’ Expectations for Crisis Management and the Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in China.  

2. Getting Rich But Not Giving? Exploring the Mechanisms Impeding Charitable Giving in China.

3. The Construction and Performance of Citizenship in Contemporary China.

4. Volunteerism and Democratic Learning in an Authoritarian State: The Case of China.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical Framework

3. Methodology

4. Results

5. Conclusion

Abstract:

Citizenship education has been an explicit part of the universal education system in contemporary China. Using data from an original nationwide survey conducted in 2018, this study tests the hypothesis that the longer the intensity of exposure to citizenship education, the more citizens are influenced by a state-led conception of citizenship characterized by passive obedience and loyalty to the state. The study finds mixed results in that citizenship education is effective at lower educational levels, but at higher levels it is not only less effective, but instead may foster (or at minimum, does not deter) more active conceptions of citizenship.

Citation:

Hsu, C., Teets, J. Hasmath, R., Hsu, J. and Hildebrandt, T. (2022) “The Construction and Performance of Citizenship in Contemporary China”, Journal of Contemporary China 31(138): 827-843. 

Available in Chinese:

当代中国公民身份建构与表现

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Citizens Expectations and State Performance Legitimacy in a Period of National Crisis

3. Data

4. Results and Discussion

5. Implications and Conclusion

Abstract:

Chinese citizens are relatively happy with the state’s management of national disasters and emergencies. However, they are increasingly concluding that the state alone cannot manage them. Leveraging the 2018 and 2020 Civic Participation in China Surveys, we find that more educated citizens conclude that the government have a leading role crisis management, but there is ample room for civil society organizations (CSOs) to act in a complementary fashion. On a slightly diverging path, volunteers who have meaningfully interacted with CSOs are more skeptical than non-volunteers about CSOs’ organizational ability to fulfill this crisis management function. These findings imply that the political legitimacy of the Communist Party of China is not challenged by allowing CSOs a greater role in crisis management. 

Citation:

Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T., Teets, J., Hsu, J. and Hsu, C. (2022) “Citizens’ Expectations for Crisis Management and the Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in China”, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 51(2): 292-312.

Available in Chinese:

权威主义国家的志愿服务和民主学习: 以中国为例：民众对国家所有制和市场监管的态度

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Framework

3. Methodology

4. Results and Findings

5. Implications and Conclusion

Abstract:

Extant literature on civic participation in Western democracies demonstrates a linear relationship between increased civic participation and a stronger democracy. In general, the scholarly debate revolves around the precise causal mechanisms for this relationship: holding government accountable; citizens learning ‘democratic skills’, such as collective mobilization and advocacy; and, building social capital and trust to overcome the dilemma of collective action. Given the rapidly increasing volunteerism in China, this study tests these theories in an authoritarian setting using evidence from the 2020 Civic Participation in China Survey. The study finds that volunteers in China do learn ‘citizen skills’; however, these differ from those learned by volunteers in democracies. Foremost, while volunteering allows for authoritarian citizens to learn and differentiate channels most appropriate for addressing specific social problems, they generally do not try to directly hold their government accountable for poor performance. Additionally, the study finds limited support that volunteers are seeking to develop trust in other citizens, contra evidence from Western democracies. Finally, the results suggest that volunteers are participating as a means to send signals to the state that they are emerging local community leaders. These findings have important implications for increasing civic participation in authoritarian regimes. 

Citation:

Teets, J., Hasmath, R., Hildebrandt, T., Hsu, C. and Hsu, J. (2022) “Volunteerism and Democratic Learning in an Authoritarian State: The Case of China”, Democratization 29(5): 879-898. 

Available in Chinese:

权威主义国家的志愿服务和民主学习: 以中国为例：民众对国家所有制和市场监管的态度

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. The Institutional Approach

3. A Values-Based Actor

4. Realpolitik Dimension

5. Implications and Conclusion

Abstract:

Contemporary European Union (EU) and China relations are marked by a simultaneously beneficial, conflictual and competitive partnership. This is aptly evident in the cyber technology realm. This paper contends that the European Union’s gestaltian approach towards China can be understood with the aid of three theoretical positions: (1) an institutional perspective; (2) as a values-based actor; and, (3) a realpolitik dimension. The arguments advanced in the paper, ultimately imply that the EU’s approach towards China can provide various EU domestic and global actors’ space to exploit contradictions, notably when it comes to cyber technology diplomacy. This has the attendant effect of fostering future fissures in the EU’s overall engagement with China.

Citation:

Hasmath, R. and Berzina-Cerenkova, U. (2022) “Cyber Technology and the European Union’s Gestaltian Approach to China”, Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations 2:10. 

Available in Chinese, French and German:

网络技术与欧盟对中国的格式塔法 

La Cybertechnologie et l’Approche Gestaltiste de l'Union Européenne vis-à-vis de la Chine

Cybertechnologien und der Gestaltheoretische Ansatz der Europäischen Union bei der Betrachtung Chinas

This talk looks at the saliency of 'white privilege' in a multicultural society. 

See the accompanying paper here.

This talk looks at the effectiveness of international organizations naming and shaming China when it comes to alleged human rights violations. It draws upon all publicly available human rights reports pertaining to China between 1991 and 2021, from Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). It suggests that the OHCHR is more successful in influencing China’s human rights’ behaviour, followed by HRW and AI. Part of the reasoning for this is the fact OHCHR and HRW have adopted a broader conception of human rights centred along both political and civil rights, and economic, cultural and social rights; with AI focusing largely on political and civil rights’ issues. Since its foundation, the P.R. China has placed greater priority on economic, cultural and social rights, rendering less inertia for OHCHR and HRW to employ a naming and shaming strategy.

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Economic Legitimation and Authoritarian Resilience

3. Methodology

4. Perceptions of State Ownership

5. Perceptions of Market Regulation

6. Discussion

7. Conclusion

Abstract:

Autocrats typically seek public support on the basis of economic growth-promotion and redistribution policies, and China is no exception. As important as these factors are for authoritarian resilience, we argue that economic legitimation is a more complex phenomenon than has previously been acknowledged. Beyond improvements in material well-being, citizens form judgments about the state’s effectiveness in carrying out a variety of economic roles beyond growth-promotion and they also care about the fairness of these market interventions. In this study, we use original survey data collected in late 2015 and early 2016 to evaluate Chinese citizens’ perceptions of two economic roles of the state that have been hotly debated in recent years: state ownership and market regulation. We find that while citizens view the ideas of state ownership and interventionist regulation in a generally positive light—suggesting a broad level of agreement in Chinese society about what economic functions the state ought to perform—perceptions of how the state actually carries out these roles are more mixed. Our results show that the urban young are especially inclined to critical evaluations, raising the question of how the Chinese Communist Party’s legitimation strategy will fare under conditions of inter-generational value change. 

Citation:

Eaton, S. and Hasmath, R. (2021) “Economic Legitimation in a New Era: Public Attitudes About State Ownership and Market Regulation”, The China Quarterly 246: 447-472.

Available in Chinese:

新时代的经济合法化：民众对国家所有制和市场监管的态度

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Individual Personality and Policy Innovation 

3. Policy Innovation in China

4. Research Design, Prior Expectations, and Data Collection

5. Results

6. Implications and Conclusion

Abstract:

This article argues that policymakers’ individual attributes influence their willingness to engage in policy innovation, and that this influence is responsive to, but not determined by, changes in the institutional structure. We derive these findings by employing principal component analysis of original data from surveys of local policymakers in China, to inductively locate different personalities. We find statistically significant personalities that influence a willingness to innovate, and that this influence is responsive to changes such as heightened risk. In addition to parsing the influence of extrinsic and intrinsic motivations on policy innovation, we further find that the traditional risk-acceptant policy-entrepreneur personality does not explain innovation well. 

Citation:

Lewis, O., Teets, J. and Hasmath, R. (2022) “Exploring Political Personalities: The Micro-Foundation of Local Policy Innovation in China”, Governance 35(1): 103-122. 

Available in Chinese:

探索政治人格：中国地方性政策创新的微观基础

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Institutional Theory

3. Social Theories

4. Agency/Stakeholder Theory

5. Complementary Qualities?

6. China-European Union Case Study

For more information on the lecture series, click here.