Citizen–media interaction in China’s local participatory reform: a contingent participation model

Mass media play an important role in grassroots democracy, yet the dynamics of media-citizen interaction remains under-researched. Using the case of “Civil Monitory Organization” (CMO) program in Zhejiang’s Wenzhou city, we show how local media and the local government to whom the local media are held accountable shape citizen participation. We develop the framework of “contingent participation” to analyze the constraints on local political participation. Based on our observation of the CMO activism, we typologize four participation behaviours: (1) symbolic participation, (2) instrumental participation, (3) managed participation, and (4) transgressive participation. We conclude that contingent participation yields paradoxical results inherent under authoritarian rule: it aims to mobilize citizens to solve governance problems, yet denies the free flow of information and full participation of citizens