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Policy Experimentation Trapped in Tiao-driven Authoritarian Environmentalism: A Case Study of National Park Policy in China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2025
Abstract
Departing from simplistic portrayals of Chinese environmental governance as authoritarian, this study identifies a hybrid policy style that combines authoritarian environmentalism with policy experimentation, as evidenced in national park policy. A detailed examination of the North-East China Tiger and Leopard National Park shows that this hybrid increasingly tilts towards authoritarianism during implementation. To explain this dynamic, the study moves beyond the prevailing central–local lens and employs the tiao–kuai model, which captures the power relations among top leaders, central departments (tiao), and local governments (kuai). The analysis reveals that organizational interests centred on conservation have led central departments to expand their authority, marginalize local governments and narrow the space for experimentation, thereby suppressing community development demands. Even when top leaders intervene from above, the entrenched power structure of tiao and kuai still limits the effectiveness of corrective measures. The study contends that a hybrid policy style, supported by balanced power relations between tiao and kuai, is essential for reconciling conservation with development through environmental policy experimentation.
摘要
有别于将中国环境治理简单描述为威权主义,本研究借助国家公园政策揭示了一种将权威环境主义与实验主义相结合的混合政策风格。对中国东北虎豹国家公园的考察表明,这种混合风格在实施过程中愈发向威权主义倾斜。为了解释这种动态变化,本研究跳出了普遍的“中央-地方”视角,采用了“条块”模型,以探究高层领导、中央部门(“条”)与地方政府(“块”)的权力关系。研究表明,自然保护导向的组织利益促使中央部门扩张权力、边缘化地方政府,并压缩政策实验空间,从而抑制社区发展的诉求;即便有最高领导人干预,固有的条块权力结构仍然限制纠偏措施的效果。研究认为,需要条块权力均衡的混合政策风格,以实现保护与发展平衡的环境政策实验。
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- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London.
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