1. Modernisation, authoritarianism, and the environment: the politics of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project.
- Author
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Moore, Scott M.
- Subjects
- *
ENVIRONMENTAL policy , *WATER transfer , *ENVIRONMENTAL protection , *MODERNIZATION (Social science) , *AUTHORITARIANISM , *ECOLOGICAL modernization - Abstract
China presents a paradox for scholars of environmental politics. Environmental politics and policymaking in China now includes elements critical to environmental protection in the West, including non-governmental participation and stringent environmental legislation. Yet the country’s authoritarian system constrains popular participation, and environmental outcomes are generally poor. China’s South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) embodies this puzzle: despite the pluralisation and development of environmental politics and policymaking, the SNWTP is a technocratic mega-project that imposes high social, economic, and environmental costs. What explains this puzzle, and what are the implications for understanding environmental politics in other authoritarian developing countries? I evaluate two current theories – Ecological Modernisation and Authoritarian Environmentalism – against the SNWTP case, and argue that it illustrates the ability of governments to co-opt environmental politics to pursue other strategic objectives, in turn necessitating greater attention to the mix of persuasive and coercive strategies in environmental politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
- Published
- 2014
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