Civil Society in Authoritarian Regime: The Analysis of China, Burma and Vietnam

Abstract: Thousands of associations with a variety of social, economical and political goals have been in recent years emerging in China, Burma and Vietnam, in spite of, or rather by authority of, the authoritarian regime. The existence of numerous associations under authoritarian rule is rather a new phenomenon which aroused contradictory views among the observers - hopes on the formation of civil society struggling for liberalization on the one hand, and fears for the associations being only another tool of the regime to manage people's lives on the other. On the grounds of a brief comparative analysis, this thesis aims to explain that one or another of the mentioned views cannot depict the complexity of associational life in these countries, but rather both roles must be viewed as an internal and mutually-interacting part of it. Most of the associations are apparently controlled and used by the authoritarian governments to their own objectives, including the aim to preserve the regime. At the same time, however, the associations use the available space to defend their self-defined interests and achieve their goals. In doing so, they seem to have an indirect political impact ? they help to increase public participation and induce gradual liberalization of the countries. Civil societies in China, Burma and Vietnam, and possibly in other authoritarian regimes as well, thus represent a realm where both authoritarian and democratic features meet and co-exist.