社会组织政策倡导行为与组织内部公民性研究——基于多案例比较的分析

Advocacy Behavior by NGOs and Intra-orga nizational Citizenship in China——A Comparative Case Study

本文探究中国社会组织政策倡导对其内部公民性培育的影响。虽然西方经典理论强调二者之间的正向关系,但通过对Z省H市三个环保社会组织的多案例比较,发现在中国情景下,社会组织政策倡导面临着不确定性的风险,这一外部环境深刻影响了社会组织内部的权力结构,强化了社会组织内部原本存在的科层制,促使组织领导者个人权力的强化甚至是克里斯玛型权威的诞生,而这一高度集权的权力结构反过来改变了组织内部成员的人际关系,弱化了组织成员的公民主体性,未体现出社会组织政策倡导与其内部公民性培育的因果逻辑。象征"民主平等"的社会组织在代表公共利益发声的过程中反而蜕变为新的"利维坦",这一方面暗示了中国社会组织不同职能之间可能存在的潜在张力,另一方面也体现出社会组织对于外部环境的策略性应对往往具有意料之外的后果。未来学术界应更多关注组织环境对社会组织职能行使过程中所产生的复杂影响,从而更好地构建基层社会治理新格局。

This article explores the impact of policy advocacy by Chinese social organiz ations regarding the cultivation of internal citizenship.Although Western classical theoryemphasizes the positive relationship between policy advocacy and internal citizenship,through multiple case comparisons of three environmental protection social org anizations in H City of Z province,it is found that in the Chinese case,policy advocacy bysoc ial organizations faces risks of uncertainty.The external environment profoundly affectsth e power structure within the social organizations.The boundaries of what behaviorsare acceptable are ambiguous and often changing,and even astute boundary-pushers often struggle to interpret the mixed signals about which types of behavior will be deemed non-compliant and which will be tolerated.Therefore,it is important to explore the relat ionship between these two factors in a context of uncertainty.According to resourcedependency theory,an uncertain environment will not only affect th e relationship between the two organizations but also change the power structure within theorganization.The person who can help the organization overcome uncertainty is more likely to gain more power and become the head of the organization.The organizational leader may use his/her powerto enhance the hierarchical organizational structure and to destroy the spirit of democracy,which will have a negative impact on the development of citizenship.This article is based on a comparative case study strategy to make its argument.Three environment al NGOs in H city located on the eastern coast of China are chosen to demonstratethe causal mechanism referred to above.Although the"A"organization engaged in more policy advocacy compared to the two other organizations,its level of in ternalcitizenship was much lower.When"A"was involved in policy advocacy,it faced ala rge degree of political risk.The leader of"A"was so experienced that with his help,theorg anization was able to successfully handle the political-risk problem.This process shapesthe organizationalpower structure to become highly centralized and hierarchical.Imbalanced power within the organization represses the expression and participation of ordinary members,ho g radually become screws in the organization.In the end,it is dif ficultfor wcitizenship todevelop even if the organization is very active on public issues.Incontrast,the two other organizations focus on voluntary activities as well as on enviro nmental education,instead of on policy advocacy.Because of the lower political risk s,the powe r structure of the two organizations are not shaped by the leader.F inally,themembers inthe two organizations are more civic-minded compared with thosein the form er organization.In the future,the academic community should pay more attention to thecomplex impact of the organizational environment on exercise of the functions of social organizations and carefully examine the status and role of social organizations in the governance system.