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date: 12 December 2019

Abstract and Keywords

This article reviews the development of civil society in China since the start of economic reforms in the late 1970s. It examines the key constraints and opportunities shaping the past and future development of civil society and argues that market reforms, subsequent socioeconomic changes, and technological and political factors have shaped the trajectory of civil society since 1978. It analyzes variables that underpin the expansion of civil society spaces and those that have contributed to their contraction or stagnation. It also considers the future prospects for civil society development in China.

Keywords: civil society, China, economic reforms, market reforms, socioeconomic changes, technological factors, political factors

Jude Howell

Jude Howell is Professor and Director of the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics. She is the coauthor (with Jeremy Lind) of Counter-Terrorism, Aid and Civil Society: Before and After the War on Terror (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and editor of Governance in China (Rowan and Littlefield, 2003).

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