Meeting in the middle: a multi-level analysis of Chinese HIV civil organisations

Thesis

Civil organisations play a key intermediary role in the middle layer between high- level policies and individual-level outcomes in international development. By triangulating among seven Chinese HIV civil organisations with varying organisational models, I examine intermediary activity that illuminates the mechanisms by which civil organisations operate and extends theory about organisations and civil society. Development studies research can benefit from multi-level analyses of organisational processes, which provide insight into how civil organisations shape institutions and networks. My case studies show several new mechanisms that enable organisations to survive and operate in politically fraught conditions, and they offer insight into the complex interactions that allow civil organisations to operate in such contexts.

First, HIV civil organisations manage associative stigma resultant from their core activities. I observe that market relationships can buffer against associative stigma transfer for organisations, with many leaders re-positioning their organisations relative to stigmatised individuals, recasting them as employees, customers, and users rather than constituents. Second, these groups use hybrid organising to better manage political risks and build partnerships through selective coupling of organisational components. Hybrid strategies can provide resilience to threats and improve resource management in institutionally plural environments. Third, HIV civil organisations engage in detached, informal, and interactive collaboration with state actors, enabling greater autonomy and innovation among civil actors and reducing risk for state actors. I trace interactions between these strategic activities at the levels of organisational activities, structures, and networks, finding that reproducing ambiguity can sustain new types of collaborations.

These findings suggest a need to reconsider the role civil organisations play in society, calling attention to organisational processes that allow these actors agency in brokering flows of information and shaping formation of networks. By viewing civil organisations as intermediaries, new directions can be identified for development policy and practice.

Authors: Galler, S

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: NGO; China; non-governmental organisations; AIDS; HIV; stigma; civil society; hybrid; social enterprise
• Subjects: International Development; China Studies; Sociology