Embedded Autonomy And Resistant Autonomy

As the main carrier of social power, NPOs can constrain the political and economic power and promote the harmony among them. It matters a great deal to the transformation and development of society. It also can help fostering the ability of social autonomy and consciousness of civic self-governance. In different historical processes and social structures,the forms and development of NPOs are of great difference. There are also a lot of different points of view in this research field.Mainland China and Taiwan are of the same origin, but of different historic tracks. Also,their functioning of NPOs characterize differently. This paper chooses two advocating environmental-friendly NPOs respectively from Mainland and Taiwan as samples, integrates some literatures and interview materials into the theoretical framework of “state-society” relation, and makes a contrast and a gradual analysis between them in terms of origins of legitimacy, the main principal of organization, and the influence to governmental policies.In considering respectively the "independence”,"autonomy" and "balancing" of NPOs,this paper turns out that the operation of Green Earth Volunteers in Mainland is embedded autonomy, whereas Homemakers United Foundation in Taiwan is resistant autonomy in the interaction with government. This paper attempts to explore the structural cause of this phenomenon in terms of history narrative.Finally, this paper summarizes two different social structures: the netted structure in Mainland, and the Civil Society described by John Locke in Taiwan. Also, this paper reveals the hidden worries of NPOs, which should be paid more attentions and further improved, in the processes of “state-society” interaction in Mainland and Taiwan.