The Discourse of Chinese Civil Society: A case study on the protest against Xiamen PX Project
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Wu, Yueh-Chang
Abstract
Based on the cultural appproach of studies on civil society proposed by Jeffery C. Alexander, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, and Agnes Ku, I analyze the discourse of Chinese civil society which is brought out by the protests against Xiamen PX Project as an example. I find that the dominant discourse, economic development discourse, is challenged by the environmental protection discourse and the more important, the democratic discourse. The democratic discourse first emerged with the dominant discourse, economic development discourse, to intensify its persuasive power. The domecratic discourse not only asks the CCP goverment to follow the public opinion, but also a further transformation of the whole administration system. It asks for the check-and-balance of power, the protection of human rights and the most important, a sound democratic election. Although the protest against Xiamen PX Project do not truly democratize the state, the democratic discourse it brings out has become democratic assets of Chinese civil society, and it can be used more effectively and show its discursive power on the next wave of democratization.
Subjects
Xiamen PX Project
Chinese Civil Society
Chinese environmental movement
democratic discourse
democratization
Type
thesis
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