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Paper short abstract:

How are relatively new non-state actors, such as Chinese NGOs, who are increasingly "going abroad" and conducting development work, interacting and contributing to and reshaping our understanding of global civil society?

Paper long abstract:

The notion of global civil society is undergoing serious questions and pushback. In an international environment of increased securitization, and a rise of conservative voices across Europe, U.S.A. and other developed nations to tighten national borders and reduce immigration/asylum applications, the underlying ideals of a global civil society (GCS) that is concerned with social justice, and checking institutional authority is challenged. Coiled in this new paradigm, how are NGOs, one of the key stakeholders advancing global civil society, currently operating in an environment where notions of interconnectedness and social justice are questioned? Moreover, how are relatively new non-state actors, such as Chinese NGOs, who are increasingly "going abroad", interacting and contributing to this new paradigm, and in the process reshaping our understanding of GCS?

In the first section of the paper, we consider the literature on GCS and the role of NGOs in advancing international networks and alliances. We are notably interested in using Keane's (2003) definition of GCS as a spring board to construct a conceptual form. We proceed in the second section to provide a background on Chinese NGOs and their current internationalization efforts. To precisely determine how Chinese NGOs take part in GCS, our third section offers a typology of the different types of Chinese NGOs that have extended their operations abroad. Our final section discusses the conceptual impact of Chinese NGOs on prevailing GCS theory, and the potential implications of their activities in the near future.