Technologies of Authoritarian Statecraft in Welfare Provision: Contracting Services to Social Organizations

Jude Howell, Regina Enjuto Martinez and Yuanyuan Qu

Development and Change, 2021, vol. 52, issue 6, 1418-1444

Abstract: In 2013 the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party adopted a nationwide policy to contract out welfare services to social organizations. This presented the Party/state with a conundrum: how best to foster service‐oriented social organizations whilst retaining control over politically sensitive groups. Using a Foucauldian framework of analysis, this article explores the rationalities and technologies of statecraft deployed to navigate this tension. It argues that contracting welfare services is a form of governmentality linked to economic efficiency, welfare provision and social stability, requiring subtle ways of governing society. In implementing this policy, the Party/state seeks to foster a service‐oriented civil society and stymie rights‐based and politically sensitive groups.

Date: 2021
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