The logic of stability maintenance in China’s NGO governance: balancing Weiwen through incorporation and suppression

This paper proposes the concept of Social Unrest Non-Governmental Organizations (SUNGOs) to examine how the CCP governs civil society under the logic of stability maintenance. SUNGOs are defined as organizations perceived by the state as ideologically deviant, politically mobilizing, or structurally autonomous—regardless of legal status. Drawing on ethnographic and interpretivist methods, the paper analyzes five SUNGO types: value-driven, legal aid, cult-affiliated, virtual, and foreign-related NGOs. It argues that the Party-state adopts a dual strategy of selective incorporation and targeted suppression, constituting a form of differentiated authoritarianism. While this approach enhances short-term regime stability, it fragments civil society and constrains civic participation. The SUNGO framework offers a typology for understanding authoritarian NGO governance and contributes to broader debates on authoritarian resilience and state-society relations.