ABSTRACT
While scholars have emphasized the increasing power and influence of the NGO sector in the international and transnational arenas, little attention has been paid to the processes by which foreign NGOs exercise their influence in China’s unique and evolving socio-political context.
This chapter introduces the concept of “transnational activation” as my approach to answering the following questions. How do foreign NGOs exercise their influence on the ground? What are the consequences of their influence? How are they, in turn, influenced?
My study builds on Keck and Sikkink’s influential work on Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs). Yet, I call into question the vertical presumptions of global-local relations in Keck and Sikkink and in the predominant literature. I suggest that we reconceptualize global-local relations to emphasize the accounts and agencies of local actors in transnational activation. This approach, illustrated here, not only explains the party-state’s recent rhetoric, laws, and rising concern over the influence of foreign NGOs (the “foreign devils”) under Xi Jinping’s leadership since 2012, but it also offers a new way to understand the relational dynamics between local actors and foreign NGOs as well as the (sometimes surprising) effects of transnational advocacy in transitional economies and/or authoritarian regimes.
