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Policy conflicts are ubiquitous in many countries. Yet research on policy conflict is typically based on cases in western, democratic countries. As a result, little is known about the characteristics of policy conflicts in non‐western countries, such as China, or how these characteristics compare to western contexts. The Policy Conflict Framework (PCF) was recently developed to help scholars identify, diagnose, and compare policy conflict characteristics. This research uses the PCF to guide a comparative analysis of the nature of policy conflicts in China and the United States. With interview data on policy actors from Chongqing, China and Colorado, USA, we present the findings by comparing the differences and similarities of policy conflicts in the two countries around shale oil and gas development. We conclude with the strengths and limitations of this comparative study of policy conflicts in China and other national contexts, along with recommendations for conducting PCF research in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on insights from studies of environmental politics, the policy process, and the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), this study examines the Trump administration's influence on how the United States is characterized by Chinese environmental policy scholars. Using an NPF approach and policy narratives on the topic of global environmental governance, our empirical results suggest that the Trump administration has shifted Chinese environmental policy scholars' constructed role of the US but not China's relationship with the US in these narratives. Specifically, there was a widening polarization of the US being portrayed as hero and villain over the sampled time frame (2010–2020) yet the portrayal of the US as an ally remained stable. These portrayals of the US also do not vary across narrators' knowledge and professional backgrounds. Our findings help confirm previous arguments that the Trump Administration's influence on environmental policy and politics in China is more rhetorical than substantive, and indicate that, despite the escalating rivalry between the two countries, Chinese environmental policy scholars continue viewing the US as an ally in global environmental governance. The findings likewise provide insights for rebuilding international climate cooperation and global climate governance leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of unprecedented ecological crises, a consensus has been consolidated in the global community to fundamentally alter current modes of economic growth and patterns of resource allocation, in pursuit of a low‐carbon transition. Environmental governance plays an important instrumental role in this global agenda. The policy mix framework has emerged as a holistic approach to the design and analysis of environmental policies. A policy mix encompasses different dimensions, featuring not only the horizontality but also the verticality and temporality of interactions. Nevertheless, existing literature on environmental policy mixes focuses on the horizontal interactions, and very few studies have systematically explored the vertical and temporal interactions of policy mixes. Drawing upon the case of agricultural residue recycling in China, this study captures the evolution of both the narrative temporality and the verticality of environmental policy mixes. More importantly, the changing political narratives around residue recycling exert an intangible but significant influence on the vertical interactions between multilevel governments in both policy making and policy implementation, in which institutional and organizational arrangements constitute a key operational and mediating mechanism to manage vertical coordination. The study finally proposes three avenues for future research on environmental policy mixes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deterioration of the environment across the globe, environmental problems have attracted much attention from the public, academia, and governments. This study contributes to the understanding of environmental policy implementation by empirically testing the policy feedback theory and official ranking tournament theory in the Chinese context. In particular, it focuses on how prior environmental performance ranking transitions into future policy performance through the mandatory target system (MTS) in China. The results from this study show that provincial environmental performance ranking serves as an effective incentive for strengthening environmental governance. Low‐ranking provinces will improve their environmental policy performances in future years because of competition in the official tournament. Policy implications are drawn to improve the administrative design of environmental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]