POLITICAL OPPORTUNITIES, RESOURCE CONSTRAINTS AND POLICY ADVOCACY OF ENVIRONMENTAL NGOs IN CHINA

Abstract

Drawing on political opportunity and resource dependency theories, this paper traces the development of 28 environmental NGOs (eNGOs) in China and examines the political and institutional factors that have constrained or facilitated these organizations' policy advocacy activities. The paper shows that political structural changes have created greater opportunities for eNGOs' policy advocacy, and eNGOs with better financial resources and connections to the party‐state system are more capable of utilizing these opportunities to enhance their policy advocacy capacity. Yet party‐state connections may in turn constrain the types of policy advocacy pursued by these eNGOs.