ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes development and influence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Southeast Asia and East Asia with particular reference to the case of China. It provides a comparative account of NGO networks, strategies, and issue foci, focusing explicitly on the differences within and between the environmental, labor, and women’s rights movements witnessed in East and Southeast Asian nations. The chapter examines legal frameworks regulating NGOs are analyzed to help better understand the political contexts in which NGOs are located. It discusses a comparison between the movements and the various national contexts in which they operate are made to understand the key differences found across transnational activism in Asia. Asian countries in general have shared the feature of developing strict legal frameworks to regulate domestic and foreign NGOs. Environmental governance is one of the areas which has seen a proliferation of NGOs responding to the diverse range of environmental concerns present in East and Southeast Asia.
