Employer association evolution in China: reassessing countervailing power

This paper provides a historical review of Employer Associations (EAs) in China across three distinct political regimes, characterised first by weak and then by dominant state influence. This study extends the current knowledge of EA behaviour through an examination of a case of a non-liberal democratic state, hitherto largely neglected in the EA literature. It also contributes to the recent literature that examines the countervailing power thesis in relation to EAs by uncovering state hegemony as a boundary condition of EAs’ countervailing power.