环境治理的公共价值建构：基于两个最相似案例的比较.

Environmental governance is an important issue in global public narratives and of salient local features. Using the theoretical framework of public values and based on the context of China in a new era, this paper conducts a systematic theoretical exploration and empirical analysis of environmental governance. The paper theoretically proposes that: ① The key to successful environmental governance lies in public value construction. ② China has two distinct ways to construct public values: one is done by local governments autonomously, and the other is completed by the central government in a top-down way. ③ The ultimate path of creating public values depends on the strategic triangle, that is, the combination of authorizing environment, strategic goals, and operational capability. To test the above arguments, this paper adopted the most-similar cases analysis approach and made a comparison between two most-similar cases in China, namely between City G in South China and City S in Central China. The empirical results positively supported the above propositions: ① Both cases had similar backgrounds but developed two distinct ways of public value creation. ② Before the intervention of Central Environmental Inspection (CEI), City G failed to create public values in environmental governance, due to the fierce conflicts among the local government, firms, and residents. However, the intervention of CEI fundamentally changed the arena and managed to create public values among the stakeholders by means of building a kind of indoctrination-oriented consensus. ③ As for the case of City S, a kind of public value was successfully created by the joint efforts of the local government, firms, and residents. ④ When local governments failed to create public values, the central government did not simply take their place and do it directly. Instead, it tried to change the incentive structure and value orientation of local governments by introducing a series of institutional innovations, which in turn led to a successful creation of public values at the local level. This paper’ s policy implications are to bring back public values and integrate them into environmental governance, build up a public value-oriented performance management system, and construct a mode of environmental governance with multiple-actor participation and interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]