Skip to main content

State and Society in China’s Environmental Politics

  • Chapter
China’s Environmental Crisis

Part of the book series: Environmental Politics and Theory ((EPT))

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the proliferation of new forms of social organizations in China has engendered a lively debate among Chinese and foreign observers about their role in politics and their relations with the party-state. Environmental groups in particular have been a focus of interest. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still aims at maintaining a monopoly on organization and therefore places restrictions on the growth of independent associations. Nevertheless, there has been an undeniable expansion of social organizations.

An earlier version of this paper has been presented to different audiences at Wuerzburg University, Heidelberg University, and the University of Cologne. I am particularly grateful for helpful comments by Christian Göbel on a previous draft.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Alpermann, Björn. 2007. “Local States and the Building of a Regulatory State in China: Implementing Reforms in China’s Cotton Sector.” In China’s Post-Reform Economy. Achieving Harmony, Sustaining Growth, ed. Richard Sanders and Yang Chen, 144–169. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beach, Marilyn, Bill Bleish, and Shelly Yang. 2006. “The Role of Public Participation in Ecological Impact Assessment (EcIA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in China,” China Environment Series, Issue 8: 117–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnbaum, Elizabeth, and Yu Xiubo. 2006. “NGO Strategies to Promote River Protection and Restoration,” China Environment Series, Issue 8: 185–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, Lila. 2006. “Notes on Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment in China,” China Environment Series, Issue 8: 112–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • China aktuell. 2005. “Umweltprobleme in China nehmen zu” [Environmental Problems in China on the Rise], No. 6: 65.

    Google Scholar 

  • China Environment and Development Review (CEDR). 2001. Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan huanjing yu fazhan yanjiu zhongxin [Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Research Center for Environment and Development] ed., Zhongguo huanjing yu fazhan pinglun [China Environment and Development Review] Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 325–327.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christian Science Monitor (CSM). 2007. “China Cracks Down on NGOs,” www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/pl206-woap.htm. (Accessed December 16, 2007).

  • CIVICUS Civil Society Index Report China (Mainland) (CIVICUS). 2006. “A Nascent Civil Society Within a Transforming Environment.” NGO Research Center, Tsing-hua University (NGO), Beijing, 45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). 2005. “Environmental NGOs in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances.” Round-table before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, February 7, 2005,” http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/020705/index.php. (Accessed December 30, 2007).

  • Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC). 2007. “New State-Run Federation May Limit Environmental NGO Independence,” www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=11757. (Accessed December 28, 2007).

  • Cooper, Caroline M. 2006. “‘This Is Our Way In’: The Civil Society of Environmental NGOs in South-West China,” Government and Opposition, Winter 41 (1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Economy, Elizabeth C. 2004. The River Runs Black. The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elvin, Marc. 1998. “The Environmental Legacy of Imperial China,” China Quarterly, December, No. 156: 733–756.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fewsmith, Joseph. 2001. China Since Tiananmen. The Politics of Transition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heuser, Robert 2001. “Das chinesische Rechtssystem des Umweltschutzes. Ein Grundriss” [The Chinese Legal System of Environmental Protection. An Introduction] In Robert Heuser and Jan de Graaf, ed. 2001. Umweltschutzrecht der VR China. Gesetze und Analysen [Environmental Protection Law of the P. R. China. Legislation and Analyses], pp. 15–66. Hamburg: Institute of Asian Affairs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haoliang, Wu. 2006. “The Third Wave of China’s Grassroots Environmental Movement: Regional Youth Environmental Organizations,” China Environment Series, Issue 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho, Peter. 2001. “Greening Without Conflict? Environmentalism, NGOs and Civil Society in China,” Development and Change, Vol. 32: 893–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, Peter. 2007. “Embedded Activism and Political Change in a Semiauthoritarian Context,” China Information, July, Vol. 21 (2): 187–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, Peter, and Richard Louis Edmonds. 2007. “Perspectives of Time and Change: Rethinking Embedded Environmental Activism in China,” China Information, July, Vol. 21 (2): 331–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jahiel, Abigail R. 1998. “The Organization of Environmental Protection in China,” China Quarterly, December, No. 156: 757–787.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayasuriya, Kanishka. 2005. “Capacity Beyond the Boundary: New Regulatory State, Fragmentation and Relational Capacity.” In Challenges to State Policy Capacity: Global Trends and Comparative Perspectives, ed. Martin Painter and Jon Pierre, 19–37. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jianqiang, Liu. 2007. “Fog on the Nu River,” http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/811-Fog-on-the-Nu-River. (Accessed December 30, 2007).

  • Jun, Jing. 2000. “Environmental Protests in Rural China.” In Chinese Society: Change Conflict and Resistance, ed. Elizabeth J. Perry and Marc Seiden, 143–160. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, Joseph. 2007. “In China, A Lake’s Champion Imperils Himself,” New York Times (online edition), October 14, http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/china80.html. (Accessed March 9, 2008).

  • Kezhu, Xu, and Alex Wang. 2006. “Recent Developments at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV),” China Environment Series, Issue 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Susanne. 2004. Umweltschutz in China [Environmental Protection in China] Frankfurt, M.: Peter Lang, 178–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrack, Dorit. 2006. “Environmental NGOs in China. Partners in Environmental Governance,” Working Paper, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberthal, Kenneth G. 1992. “Introduction: The ‘Fragmented Authoritarianism’ Model and Its Limitations.” In Bureaucracy, Politics, and Decision Making in Post-Mao China, ed. Kenneth G. Lieberthal and David Lampton, 1–30. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Teh-chang. 2007. “Environmental NGOs and the Anti-Dam Movement in China: A Social Movement with Chinese Characteristics,” Issues & Studies, December 43 (4): 149–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Litzinger, Ralph. (2007.) “In Search of the Grassroots: Hydroelectric Politics in Northwest Yunnan.” In Grassroots Political Reform in Contemporary China, ed. Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman, 282–299. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lo, Carlos Wing Hung, and Sai Wing Leung. 2000. “Environmental Agency and Public Opinion in Guangzhou: The Limits of a Popular Approach to Environmental Governance,” China Quarterly, September, No. 163: 677–704.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, Qiusha. 2006. Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: Paving the Way to Civil Society? New York: Routledge, 64–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, Li, and Francois G. Schmitt. 2008. “Development and Environmental Conflicts in China,” China Perspectives, No. 2: 94–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migdal, Joel S. 2001. State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, Allison, and Adria Warren. 2006. “Legal Advocacy in Environmental Public Participation in China: Raising the Stakes and Strengthening Stakeholders,” China Environment Series, Issue 8: 3–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, Kevin J., and Lianjiang Li. 2006. Rightful Resistance in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, Michael. 1998. “Environmental Protection in the People’s Republic of China: The Face of Domestic Law,” China Quarterly, December, No. 156: 788–808.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, Margaret M. 2005. “The Business of Governing Business in China. Institutions and Norms of the Emerging Regulatory State,” World Politics, January, Vol. 57: 296–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, Elizabeth J. 1994. “Trends in the Study of Chinese Politics: State-Society Relations,” China Quarterly, September, No. 139: 704–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pierre, Jon, and B. Guy Peters. 2005. Governing Complex Societies. Trajectories and Scenarios Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pitkin, Melanie. 2006. “Pingnan Green Wins Court Case Against Chemical Company,” China Environment Series, Issue 8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qing, Dai, and Eduard B. Vermeer. 1999. “Do Good Work, But Don’t Offend the ‘Old Communists.’ Recent Activities of China’s Non-governmental Environmental Protection Organizations and Individuals.” In China’s Economic Security, ed. Werner Draguhn and Robert Ash, 142–162. Richmond: Curzon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saich, Tony. 2000. “Negotiating the State: The Development of Social Organizations in China,” China Quarterly, March, no. 161: 124–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmenkari, Taru. 2008. “Searching for a Chinese Civil Society Model,” China Information, November Vol. 22 (3): 397–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Savadove, Bill. 2007. “Crossing the Line. A Fiery Rally over a Shanghai Project Highlights the Growing Voice of Middle Class Protesters,” South China Morning Post (online edition), December 20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shambaugh, David. 2008. China’s Communist Party. Atropy and Adaptation. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, Judith. 2001. Mao’s War Against Nature. Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sinkule, Barbara J., and Leonard Ortolano. 1995. Implementing Environmental Policy in China. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smil, Vaclav. 2004. China’s Past. China’s Future. Energy, Food Environment. New York: Routledge Curzon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solinger, Dorothy J. 1992. “Urban Entrepreneurs and the State: The Merger of State and Society.” In State and Society in China: The Consequences of Reform, ed. Arthur L. Rosenbaum, 121–141. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • South China Morning Post. 2008a. “Six Punished for Chemical Plant Protest.” Online edition, May 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • South China Morning Post. 2008b. “Shanghai Seeks Public Opinion over Maglev.” Online edition, January 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternfeld, Eva. 2006. “Umweltsituation und Umweltpolitik in China,” [Environmental Situation and Policy in China], Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 49 (12): 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, Yanfei, and Dingxin Zhao. 2008. “Environmental Campaigns.” In Popular Protest in China, ed. Kevin J. O’Brien, 144–162. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatlow, Didi Kirsten. 2006. “4 Huaxi Protesters Handed Jail Terms,” South China Morning Post (online edition), January 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toy, Mary-anne. 2006. http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/threat-to-delist-world-heritage-site-in-china/2006/10/18/1160850998047.html. (Accessed December 30, 2007).

  • Thompson, Drew, and Xiaoqing Lu. 2006. “China’s Evolving Civil Society: From Environment to Health,” China Environment Series, 8: 27–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tilt, Bryan. 2007. “The Political Ecology of Pollution Enforcement in China: A Case from Sichuan’s Rural Industrial Sector,” China Quarterly, December, No. 192: 915–932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vermeer, Eduard B. 1998. “Industrial Pollution in China and Remedial Policies,” China Quarterly, December, No. 156: 952–985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warwick, Mara, and Leonard Ortolano. 2007. “Benefits and Costs of Shanghai’s Environmental Complaints System,” China Information, July, Vol. 21 (2): 237–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wexler, Robyn, Xu Ying, and Nick Young. 2006. “NGO Advocacy in China.” China Development Brief, September, no. 124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Guobin. 2005. “Environmental NGOs and Institutional Dynamics in China,” China Quarterly, March, no. 181: 46–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Guobin, and Craig Calhoun. 2007. “Media, Civil Society, and the Rise of a Green Public Sphere in China,” China Information, July, Vol. 21 (2): 211–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yijiang, Ding. 1998. “Corporatism and Civil Society in China: An Overview of the Debate in Recent Years,” China Information, Spring 12 (4): 44–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, Nick. 2007. “Personal Press Statement,” June 11. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/CDB.doc. (Accessed December 30, 2007).

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2010 Joel Jay Kassiola and Sujian Guo

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Alpermann, B. (2010). State and Society in China’s Environmental Politics. In: Kassiola, J.J., Guo, S. (eds) China’s Environmental Crisis. Environmental Politics and Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230114364_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics