Official framing—portraying the implementation of an unpopular policy as responsive governance

ABSTRACT

Official framing has received increasing attention in social movement studies. Yet current research often focuses on the negative side of framing, that is, how authorities vilify and demonize challengers to justify coercive reactions, whereas little scholarship has scrutinized positive framing, i.e., how officials recognize the legitimacy of citizens’ grievances and portray state co-optation or conciliation as responsive governance. Neither does existing research examine institutional foundations of official framings. To address these omissions, this paper devises a conceptual framework of negative and positive framings, which incorporates the examination of a variety of formal and less formal institutions undergirding different types of framing strategies. I develop this conceptual framework through a case study of how a local government framed protest against waste incineration in China. It documents how authorities portray the implementation of an unpopular policy as responsive governance and how different institutions facilitate official frames. An in-depth analysis of official framing not only contributes to the development of studies of frames and contentious politics but to a better understanding of social control and legitimation.

KEYWORDS:

• Framing
• institutions
• contentious politics
• environmental governance
• legitimacy
• china

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Stephen Perz, Christine Overdevest, Manfred Elfstrom, Pilar Morales Giner, Huixuan Wu, and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on earlier drafts. I thank Randi Hacker and Marion Cassard for careful proofreading.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Like other cities in China, Hangzhou encompasses both rural and urban areas.

2. ‘District’ is an administrative level lower than the ‘city’.

3. An open letter to local residents by protest leaders entitled ‘Strongly Object to Building an Incineration Plant Burning 3,000 Tons of Garbage per Day’.

4. A protester letter entitled ‘Objection to Hangzhou Yuhang Jiufeng Incineration Project and Opinions on Its Siting’.

5. WeChat message, 19 January 2015.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yao Li

Yao Li is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. She is the author of Playing by the Informal Rules—Why the Chinese Regime Remains Stable despite Rising Protests (Cambridge 2019; Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics). Dr. Li’s research combines quantitative and qualitative methods to address debates in the fields of political sociology, social movements, environmental studies, and development.