China Perspective Issues
Chloé Froissart
Kevin O'Brien and Li Lianjiang, Rightful Resistance in Rural China
Isabelle Thireau and Hua Linshan, Les ruses de la démocratie. Protester en Chine (Ruses of democracy: Protest in China)
Book Reviews (PDF version)
Han Dongfang (in collaboration with Michaël Sztanke), Mon combat pour les ouvriers chinois (My struggle for Chinese workers)
“NGOs” Defending Migrant Workers’ Rights
ABSTRACT: In the absence of trade union freedoms, “NGOs” have emerged to defend migrant workers’ rights. This article takes a close look at the mobilisation of such organisations, assesses their short-term impact, and examines their role in China’s political system. NGOs display a new form of activism based on pragmatic positioning and technical knowhow, especially in legal matters, all the while testing political boundaries. While such organisations act as a real counterweight within the system whose dysfunctions they seek to correct, their mobilisation is struggling to become institutionalised. They thus reflect the growth of a social form of democracy that helps the authoritarian system adapt, and hence contributes to preserving it.
KEY WORDS: Civil society, NGO, migrant workers, labour laws, rights defence movement.
Trade-offs Between State Organisations and Workers’ Organisations Chinese Unions in Search of Authoritarian Collective Bargaining
ABSTRACT: This article analyses the way in which, since 2010, Chinese trade unions have been trying to find forms of authoritarian collective bargaining that allow them to advance workers’ interests without calling into question their belonging to the state apparatus. It compares the case of the Dalian Industrial Zone to that of the Shenzhen Pilot Zone in a bid to understand how the unions try to acquire effectiveness and legitimacy in the absence of any progress in terms of representation. KEYWORDS: Trade union reforms, collective bargaining, labour disputes, strikes, labour NGOs.
Chen Yan, L’Eveil de la Chine, et Zhang Lun, La Vie intellectuelle en Chine depuis la mort de Mao
Xu Youyu ou comment écrire l’histoire de la Révolution culturelle pour orienter l’avenir de la Chine
Xu Youyu, or How to Write the History of the Cultural Revolution so as to Set China on the Right Future Path
Chen Yan, L’Eveil de la Chine, et Zhang Lun, La Vie intellectuelle en Chine depuis la mort de Mao
L'émergence de mouvements sociaux parmi les travailleurs migrants Une difficile conquête d'autonomie
Ces dernières années, la multiplication des conflits impliquant les travailleurs migrants a incité l'Etat chinois à appeler à la protection leurs droits, donnant ainsi prise à l'émergence de mouvements sociaux. Les migrants trouvent dans le nouveau discours du pouvoir une légitimation à leurs revendications. Davantage conscients de leurs droits, ils en viennent progressivement à appréhender le système politique sous un jour nouveau. Alors que l'Etat facilite désormais leur accès aux institutions publiques et aux organisations du Parti, les migrants les jugent inefficaces. C'est pourquoi ils organisent des manifestations ou se tournent vers de nouvelles formes de médiation et de représentation. Ces évolutions n'indiquent cependant pas une reconfiguration significative des rapports entre l'Etat et la société.
The Rise of Social Movements Among Migrant Workers Uncertain strivings for autonomy
Over the past few years, as conflicts involving migrant workers have become more and more frequent, the Chinese state has called for the protection of their rights, but with the effect of abetting the rise of social movements. New statements made by the state legitimated migrants' claims. More aware of their rights, migrants, as never before gradually became attuned to their relationship to the political system. While the state is now increasing their access to public institutions and party organisations, migrants deem these measures inefficient, and the result is demonstrations or new forms of mediation and representation. Yet this development does not represent a significant change in state-society relations.