PMR — pp. 1-32 2026-09-16 Original From co-production to value co-creation: NGOs as catalysts of cyclical public value in rural China
Jingjing Cai, Kaisar Kaher
Abstract
This study explores how NGOs facilitate the transition from co-production to value co-creation in rural ecological governance through a case study of the Guanba River Basin, China. Drawing on qualitative evidence and social network analysis, it reveals that NGOs’ front-loaded participation in problem framing, planning, and rule formation creates institutional and relational foundations for collaborative governance. Beyond boundary-spanning roles, NGOs function as institutional intermediaries that reshape governance arrangements and enhance local capacity. Value co-creation emerges through institutional embeddedness, actor absorption, and adaptive governance within a recursive ecosystem. This study provides an institutionally grounded explanation of how externally facilitated co-production evolves into locally sustained value co-creation.
GOV 39/3 2026-06-19
Original The Safety Tether: How China Manages Civil Society Through Lawfare
Timothy Hildebrandt, Blake Miller
Abstract
ABSTRACT How do authoritarian regimes benefit from civil society organizations' expertise and capacity while mitigating the potential risks they pose? Using machine learning and interrupted time series modeling of an original custom‐annotated dataset of all historical NGO registrations in China, we find that NGO policy is unevenly implemented. This unevenness, however, is not random. China uses NGO registration policies to facilitate local risk utility tradeoffs in line with threat perceptions and governance needs. This, we argue, is a form of lawfare—using legal means to achieve political or repressive ends. Examining a 2013 policy shift, we find local governments relax sponsorship requirements more in policy domains with low state capacity and less where civil society poses a threat, tailoring national mandates to shape local conditions. We show how lawfare is a complex instrument providing local flexibility in repression and cooptation of civil society, under the guise of routine legal and administrative procedures.
PMR — pp. 1-31 2026-04-13 Original How NGOs facilitate value co-creation through multilevel and processual mechanisms: evidence from China
Shuang Tan, Yu Du, Xiaonan Wang
Abstract
This study traces the evolution of nongovernmental organization (NGO) actions in China’s waste incineration risk governance through a longitudinal analysis of the Incineration Issue Strategic Group. Findings show that NGOs facilitate value co-creation (VCC) through continuous value awakening, co-design, co-production, co-experience, and co-construction. We propose multilevel and processual mechanisms: spatially, NGOs optimize actor networks and resource integration within public service ecosystems; temporally, they enable sustained co-creation through dynamic iterations. This study expands VCC phase models, clarifying the unique role of NGOs in facilitating VCC within public service ecosystems. It also provides a replicable model for NGO engagement under state-dominated regimes.