New Opportunities, Same Constraints: Environmental Protection and China's New Development Path
Since coming to power in 2002, China's ‘fourth generation’ leadership has attempted to steer the country on to a new development path that emphasises environmental protection and resource conservation. This article argues that this has opened up a window of opportunity for China's State En...
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Published in | Politics (Manchester, England) Vol. 28; no. 2; pp. 93 - 102 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.05.2008
SAGE Publications |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Since coming to power in 2002, China's ‘fourth generation’ leadership has attempted to steer the country on to a new development path that emphasises environmental protection and resource conservation. This article argues that this has opened up a window of opportunity for China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), long perceived as a weak body, to expand its influence and improve implementation of environmental policies. This article examines two recent SEPA initiatives, green GDP and so-called ‘environmental storms’, to see to what extent SEPA has been able to achieve these outcomes. It concludes that, although the profile of environmental issues has risen as a result of these two initiatives, they also highlight the difficulties inherent in enforcing better environmental standards in an authoritarian political system. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-JJSGXJ57-W ArticleID:PONL316 istex:34F76DAAB64B52449D57B24DCAC3E94361C0DE7C ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0263-3957 1467-9256 |
DOI: | 10.1111/j.1467-9256.2008.00316.x |