Model Of The Participation Of Social Organizations In Anti-domestic Violence Policy Making

With the reform and opening-up policy implemented in 1978,public issues in China have become more and more complicated,a trend that has gradually propelled public policymaking from closed to open.Meanwhile,during this changing process,social organizations(SOs)as an important aspect of the civil sector have gained unprecedented momentum.More and more social organizations in China have been involved in and exerted influences on public policymaking.This dissertation sets to analyze the relation between social organizations' involvement and public policymaking through answering the following questions in the process of anti-domestic violence policymaking: In an unsymmetrical power structure of strong government versus weak civil society,in which the elite dominates decision-making,how have SOs participated in the policymaking on anti-domestic violence(ADV)? What are the basic features of their participatory models? This dissertation studies the participation of both civil social organization and official social organization in ADV policymaking.Based on the theory of policy network,the analytical framework of this dissertation combines both layers of macro structure and micro actions.On the micro level,I focus on how the two different types of SOs have exhibited different features in terms of their participatory roles,relation with other participants,participatory resources and strategies in ADV policymaking process.From the comparisons,I extract the participatory model of social organizations in ADV policymaking,and reveal the intrinsic logic of their actions and further investigate the ways through which social organizations can be involved in policymaking and how their involvements have influenced the innovations of social governance in China.From the macro perspective of social structure,the background of SOs' participation in public policymaking constitutes the environment in which ADV policy network exists.Social organizations' participation in anti-domestic violence policy grows out of a broader political,economic,social and cultural context.The construction of service-oriented governance model and participatory governance policymaking model has blazed a new development track for Chinese socialist democratic politics and opened more favorable space for SOs to participate in policymaking.The rapid development of economy,the consequent stratified benefits structure brought by increasingly centralized wealth and diversified demands of interests altogether call for an urgent need for the participation of SOs in public policy and provide the conditions for SOs' development.Moreover,the birth and initial development of civil society in China have propelled the increasing participation of SOs in policymaking.After the opening-up,the political culture in China has developed toward a civil one,a transition that forms solid cognitive foundations for SOs' participation in policymaking.The above background provides both promotive and prohibitive influences on SO's participation in ADV policy-making.From the micro perspective of social actions,through their interactions in the process of realizing action goals,various participants including the government,SOs,media and scholars have formed a policy network for SOs' participation in policymaking.The participation of SOs has exerted influences on different stages of policymaking,from the initiation of a public issue,agenda setting to the implementation and choice of countermeasures.This dissertation studies two cases: the participation of Shaanxi Research Association for Women and Family in the introduction of Shaanxi provincial ADV resolution in 2002,and that of Hunan provincial Women's Federation in the introduction of Hunan provincial ADV resolution in 2000.From the comparisons of different aspects of the policy network such as participants and their roles,relation among participants,participatory resources and strategies,I theorize a policy participatory model of SO and reveal the differences between the two types of organizations.My research shows that in China,the action network of different types of SOs can be divided into three different layers of core decision-making layer,coordinative layer and participatory layer.In the case of civil SOs,they cooperate with other participants in the policy network,along with compromise as well as exhibit certain degree of resistance.Through integrating resources in aspects such as economic,technics,information and social relation,civil SO successfully adopt strategies in order to participate in policymaking,such as networking,integrating different interests,packaging issues,arising public awareness and mass-mobilization.Official SOs exhibit similar features in strategies yet have slightly different advantages.Comparatively speaking,they have more political and organizational resources and make good use of them in lobbying.Both types of SOs have successfully participated in policymaking.The roles of different type of SOs and their relation with other participants in a policy network,and also the differences in their resources and action strategies decide the effectiveness of their participation.I argue that in the Chinese context of ADV policymaking,apart from “match of interests” which is important in western policy network,the match of feelings is also evident.In other words,the intermingling public-private(gong-si)relation diversifies the relations among participants.From the observations on both macro and micro levels,this dissertation theorizes Chinese SO's ADV policymaking participatory model.I propose that the participatory model of civil SO is service and support-oriented,featured by comprehensiveness,integrative ability,acumen and complexity;that of official SO is synergetic and cooperative,characterized by its authority,expediency,pervasiveness and synergy.I also conclude that the intrinsic action logic of SO in ADV policymaking as follows: the awareness and beliefs of local governments and the professional competence of SOs are the crucial variables influencing SOs' policymaking participation;while the experts and scholars,mass media and international organizations are peripheral variables.In the participation in ADV policymaking,the model of civil SO follows the process of issue recognition—alliance formation—providing support;while that of official SO begins with guidance,proceeding with consultation and finally legal demonstration.Based on the analysis of SOs in ADV policymaking,this dissertation reaches the following conclusions: the attitude of governments to SOs,including its openness and response,decides the effectiveness of SOs in policymaking;the professional competence of SOs to localize their participation strategies is the basic factor;and the cooperation among SOs to maximize their complementary resources is the key factor that influences the outcome of their participation.Besides,policymaking in China exhibits not only the “match of interests”,which is important in western policy network,but also the match of feelings.The participation of SOs in policy making is an effective way to achieve renovation in social governance.Generally speaking,Chinese SO has the following advantages in participating in policymaking: under the pressure of social participation,the government has opened more public space;SOs have improved the effectiveness of their participation and actively cooperated with the government.It is the trend of SOs in China to participate in public policymaking under the leadership of the government and the CPC in an orderly fashion.In the foreseeable future,with the government gradually opening up to SOs in policymaking and the SOs strengthening their institutional capacities,Chinese government would be greatly improved in making democratic and scientific public policies.