In most democracies, nongovernmental organizations are thought to be an important indicator for the development of civil society and one of the foundations for democracy. In Social Organization and the Authoritarian State in China, Timothy Hildebrandt reveals how the context within social organizations operate in an authoritarian state like China creates a system in which social organizations simultaneously help to address important social problems while they also assist the government in implementing its policies.

Based on extensive fieldwork in Kunming, Chengdu, and Beijing, Hildebrandt provides insights into how leaders of social organizations within three issue areas operate within narrow opportunity structures that lead them operate within the system rather than developing opposition to the political status quo. Environmental protection groups, HIV/AIDS prevention groups, and gay and lesbian groups need to adapt to changing political, economic, and personal opportunity structures that impede their progress and threaten their long-term viability.

Drawing on the literature on social movements, Hildebrandt defines opportunities as policy windows that the state can impede or facilitate by narrowing or widening them, respectively. Political opportunities are created by the various policy decisions and changing government interests at different levels of administration within China’s hierarchical political structure, economic opportunities constitute the ability to attract funding resources and mechanisms, and personal opportunities are composed of the individual relationships that leaders build with government officials. The book is organized around these three parts of the overall opportunity structure, and compares tactics of these three groups within each opportunity structure.

Qualitative interviews and an online survey with leaders of social organizations reveal a system in which political opportunity structures are drastically and rapidly changing, financial resources are limited, and personal relationships are not institutionalized. Social activists adapt to this system because otherwise they would face negative response from government officials. Social activists rarely experience government interference or repression because they impose self-control as they adapt to changing circumstances and work within the system. The result is a weak civil society that bolsters existing structures rather than challenging them more profoundly. Non-governmental organizations act as “social service providers” (p. 167) that assist the state in addressing social problems, thus increasing the legitimacy of the state while also providing an outlet for social participation that does not threaten the status quo.

This provocative conclusion is well argued. The book highlights the broader patterns while at the same time not losing attention to detail: Quotes from eighty in-depth interviews tell an engagingly-written story that is further substantiated with quantitative results from an expert survey with ninety-five leaders of social organizations. Because no reliable accounts of nongovernmental organizations exist in China, the expert survey serves as an expansion of qualitative interviews that extend the book’s main regional focus on Kunming, Chengdu, and Beijing to twenty-two provinces and municipalities. Hildebrandt carefully makes claims that can be substantiated with evidence while also not loosing sight of limitations entailed in the research design.

Theoretically, the book challenges a common assumption in research on civil society and state-society relations. Most importantly, the book describes the relationship between the authoritarian state and society as codependent rather than zero-sum. In the China field, a number of scholars conducting their fieldwork around the same time have come to similar conclusions (see, for example, James Reilly (2012) Strong State, Smart State: The Rise of Public Opinion in China’s Japan Policy; Robert Weller (2008) “Responsive Authoritarianism.” In B. Gilley & L. Diamond (Eds.), Political Change in China: Comparisons with Taiwan). However, the assumption that strong society will weaken the authoritarian state is less accepted beyond research on China. Counterintuitively, the book therefore describes one potential opposition group (among others) as those that have strong ties to the central government (as opposed to local government) receiving donations from international community groups.

Other contributions constitute the emphasis on leaders of social organizations. In the literature on social movements, research on opportunity structures is often criticized for its lack of agency, which the book addresses by placing social activists at the center, explaining their strategies within a changing opportunity structure. Researchers on authoritarianism may also find parts of the book intriguing that link the opportunity structures to political activism: Hildebrandt argues that a lack of transparency and the often striking differences between political rhetoric and actions on the side of the authoritarian state create a certain amount of uncertainty among social activists. As a result, how social activists perceive the opportunity structure is particularly important in explaining strategies and tactics of social organizations.

Having spent some time in Washington working for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the book also addresses practical implications for the international community with respect to their funding of non-governmental organizations in China. Here, Hildebrandt takes a critical stance towards existing programs that often focus on populations easiest to reach implementing the cheapest methods, rather than reaching the most needful populations using the best practices. The book also provides insights into the difference between legally registered organizations that can be more easily funded by foreign donors, and unregistered organizations that sometimes can work more effectively or may have more potential for bringing about political reform.

The mix of theory, detail, and insight make this an important book. Researchers of social movements, civil society, and authoritarianism as well as international donors and policy-makers will enjoy reading this book.