“A clearly written, comprehensive and timely volume, <i>China Goes Green</i> will help students, researchers, and the general public understand how to think about China’s ’authoritarian environmentalism’ — or more accurately, as Li and Shapiro argue — ‘environmental authoritarianism’ under Xi Jinping. A concise guide to a very important issue.”<br /><b>Emily Yeh, University of Colorado Boulder</b> <p>“<i>China Goes Green</i> brilliantly redefines our understanding of modern Chinese governance, dismantling a simplified portrait and illuminating the force, and the flaws, of the centralized approach that some officials call the ‘era of coercion.’ These insights are vital to understanding not only China’s environmental policy but also its handling of public-health emergencies and other issues of urgent global interest.”  <br /><b>Evan Osnos, author of <i>Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China<br /><br /></i></b>“Even as someone well versed in this material, I learned a great deal from this impressive text. I would absolutely use it with my students.”<br /><b>Matto Mildenberger, University of California, Santa Barbara<br /><br /></b>“Faith in the capacity of western forms of governance to meet the rising challenges of the Anthropocene is waning. Many find in China's brand of authoritarian environmentalism an appealing alternative. But can the appeal of this alternative withstand close scrutiny? Without denying or downplaying China's environmental achievements, Li and Shapiro subject China's environmental record to a systematic assessment. The result is a sobering account of what the authors describe as environmental authoritarianism in contrast to authoritarian environmentalism. An important argument that is particularly timely at this moment.”<br /><b>Oran Young, University of California, Santa Barbara</b><br /><br />‘Li and Shapiro trenchantly explore environmentalism as an element of China’s deepening and globalizing authoritarianism, while also showing that a measure of citizen involvement, or “supervision by the masses,” is required for such projects to succeed. Through nuanced case studies from urban air quality to reforestation, China Goes Green inspires us to focus on the relationship between sustainability and freedom – an endangered species in our increasingly illiberal world.’<br /><b>Jesse Ribot, American University<br /></b></p> <p>“<i>China Goes Green: Coercive Environmentalism for a Troubled Planet</i> is a nuanced account of what China has done so far, and what lessons the world can learn from the authoritarian tone of environmentalism in China.”<br /><b><i>The Earthbound Report</i><br /><br /></b>“broad and deep, well documented and clear”<br /><i><b>Asian Review of Books</b></i></p> <p>“an important work that recasts the trade-offs of tackling catastrophic climate change.”<br /><b><i>Journal of Political Ecology</i><br /></b></p> <p>“Highly recommended for China scholars, those interested in the impact of China's growing global role, and everyone looking to understand how much coercion is necessary in environmental politics.”<br /><b>Jessica C. Teets, <i>Governance</i></b></p> <p>“a deeply perceptive book”<br /><b>Mahesh Rangarajan, <i>The Telegraph India<br /></i></b></p> <p>“timely…a deep exploration of the environmental governance system under China’s characteristic authoritarian regime.”<br /><b><i>International Journal of Asian Studies<br /></i></b><br />“[A]n in-depth analysis of the Chinese approach to solving environmental issues.”<br /><b><i>Europe-Asia Studies<br /><br /></i></b>"(a) remarkable and long overdue book... its enormous strength is its comprehensive and well-balanced combination of ambitious theorizing and hard empirics."  <b><i><br /><b><i>The China Quarterly</i></b><br /></i></b></p>

What does it mean for the future of the planet when one of the world’s most durable authoritarian governance systems pursues “ecological civilization”? Despite its staggering pollution and colossal appetite for resources, China exemplifies a model of state-led environmentalism which concentrates decisive political, economic, and epistemic power under centralized leadership. On the face of it, China seems to embody hope for a radical new approach to environmental governance.  

In this thought-provoking book, Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro probe the concrete mechanisms of China’s coercive environmentalism to show how ‘going green’ helps the state to further other agendas such as citizen surveillance and geopolitical influence. Through top-down initiatives, regulations, and campaigns to mitigate pollution and environmental degradation, the Chinese authorities also promote control over the behavior of individuals and enterprises, pacification of borderlands, and expansion of Chinese power and influence along the Belt and Road and even into the global commons. Given the limited time that remains to mitigate climate change and protect millions of species from extinction, we need to consider whether a green authoritarianism can show us the way. This book explores both its promises and risks.
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Introduction: The Rise of Authoritarian Environmentalism

Ecological Civilization as Political Philosophy

A Global Call to Action

What is State-led Environmentalism?

Authoritarianism in Green Clothing

Towards Mutually Agreed-upon Coercion

1 Asserting “Green” Control: The State and its Subjects

Campaigns and Crackdowns

Environmental Campaigns

Justifications and Risks

Target-setting

Targets Gone Awry

Behavior Modification

Environmentalism at a Price

Notes

2 “Green” China Pacifies its Borders

One-size-fits-all Policymaking

Afforestation by Monoculture

The Loess Plateau as an Unscalable Success

The Industrialized Forest of Uxin Banner

Green Grabbing: Hydropower as Ecological Civilization and Modernization

Green Grabbing as a Tool of Government Control

Citizen Resistance: The Nu River and Tiger Leaping Gorge

Ecological Migration: Sedentarizing Nomads and Building Parks

Protected Areas and National Parks

Pacifying Borderlands in the Name of the Environment

3 The State on the “Green” Belt and Road

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Environment

Win-win Green Development

The Quest for Soft Power

Green Technocracy

A Morass of Contradictions

4 Global China Goes “Green”

Mastering the Trade Game

Banning Global Waste Imports

Withholding Rare Earths

Curbing the Endangered Species Trade

Engineering China’s Atmosphere

Blue Skies or Bust

Constructing “Sky River”: Weather Modification on the Tibetan Plateau

Outer Space Environmentalism: The Digital Belt and Road

Geoengineering the Earth’s Climate

Mining the Moon

The Sleeping Lion Awakes

5 Environmental Authoritarianism on a Troubled Planet

Environmental Fix

Authoritarian Resilience

Techno-political Underpinnings

Transactional Logic

Indispensable Civil Society

Consultation under State Leadership

References

Index

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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781509543120
Publisert
2020-07-31
Utgiver
Vendor
Polity Press
Vekt
318 gr
Høyde
216 mm
Bredde
137 mm
Dybde
15 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
240

Biografisk notat

Yifei Li is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at NYU Shanghai, and Global Network Assistant Professor at NYU.

Judith Shapiro is Professor and Director of the Masters in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development at American University.