In The Advocacy Trap: Transnational Activism and State Power in China, Stephen Noakes introduces readers to six transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and their campaigns to change China. Placing his study in conversation with other scholars of international politics, Noakes contends that extant literature has given short shrift to the ways in which strong states like China's can push back against global norms and the demands of transnational social movement actors.
Drawing on archival materials and what appears to be about eighteen interviews conducted between 2009 and 2013, Noakes presents his case studies over three empirical chapters. Chapter 2 is taken up largely with discussion of Falun Gong's development, its history of repression by the Chinese state, and the contending narratives put out by the organization's advocates overseas and the Chinese Communist Party inside China. While the organizational history will be interesting in itself to some readers, the depiction of the movement as a participant in global civil society seems to be downplayed in favor of a detailed treatment of its rise and repression in China. Given Noakes's overall goals, more explication of the organization as a transnational actor would have helped readers see its relevance more clearly. In the same chapter, he devotes about half as much space to the case of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, but the level of detail about both domestic and foreign pressures supporting this movement is much more balanced. Ultimately, Noakes argues that the two otherwise very different cases—which had very different outcomes—are similar in that “state power and preference was a determinative factor in the results and process of each campaign” (p. 67).
Chapter 3 compares the international effort to campaign for particular configurations of HIV/AIDS treatment programs and the work of foreign actors to press China to abolish the death penalty. While the goals of the HIV/AIDS campaign were ultimately achieved, Noakes writes, China was less susceptible to the entreaties of the death penalty campaign, only reducing its annual number of executions, not abolishing capital punishment altogether. He cautions, however, that even the apparent “success” of the global HIV/AIDS treatment campaign in China cannot be solely attributed to the TAN itself, arguing that “where intercessions [by TANs] do result in the nudging of policy in a particular direction, they reflect the astuteness of advocates at recognizing the appropriate moment for approaching Chinese officials, choosing their tone, and making compromises where they have to” (p. 71). In line with his analysis in chapter 2, Noakes asserts that state actors have to be open and amenable to the kinds of reforms and policies TANs are advocating if international pressure is to have any impact on the ground.
Chapter 4 analyzes the Free Tibet movement and the international campaign calling upon China to tackle global warming. Both of these cases, Noakes writes, exemplify what he calls “advocacy drift,” a phenomenon in which “target state preferences not only shape the results of individual campaigns, but also their ideological core” (p. 105). In both campaigns, the original goals or favored approaches of the key TAN actors shifted in order to accommodate hard realities imposed by the preferences of the Chinese party-state.
Noakes's two main theoretical claims—that the state matters greatly in China, and that campaigns may have to sacrifice some of their moral core to find some measure of practical success—are not particularly surprising or groundbreaking. But they are eloquently depicted here, making the six case studies perhaps the strongest value offered by this book. The Advocacy Trap also dovetails well with other recent scholarship about authoritarian resilience, detailing where and when Chinese leaders seek to benefit and learn from foreign actors even while keeping their eyes sharply focused on domestic concerns about stability and legitimacy. As a practical how-to—or at least, “how they did it”—guide, the book will be invaluable to the various international NGOs and other organizations that make up transnational social movements. Groups considering entering China and ones already on the ground will find wisdom and cautionary tales in the experiences of others. Likewise, students of social movements will glean much from the six case studies, which run the gamut from abject failure (seeking justice for Falun Gong practitioners) to seemingly unparalleled success (the IPR protection movement).
The book's theoretical ambitions and practical lessons could have been developed further if Noakes had considered in more detail how his observations might apply to other authoritarian regimes—Putin's Russia, for example—and delved into the repressive turn against civil society under Xi Jinping. Nevertheless, it offers a strong set of case studies and substantial food for thought on how much space global actors have to act on a strong authoritarian state like contemporary China.
