Government strategies in addressing three protests against PX plants in urban China: comparing cases using a most-similar-system design

ABSTRACT

This article explains variations in the strategies Chinese local governments apply to address protests against the planning, construction, or operation of paraxylene (PX) plants. We present an analytical framework that identifies government strategies and explanatory conditions. Using a most-similar-system design (MSSD), we compared government strategies adopted by three city governments – Dalian, Xiamen and Kunming – in coping with these protests. In response to PX protests, the Kunming and Dalian municipality continued construction or operation of the PX plant; in contrast, the Xiamen municipality relocated the plant. Our comparative analysis showed that the preference of higher level governments and national mass media, as well as perceived costs, are key conditions explaining these differences. Overall, we conclude that Chinese local governments, due to contradictory pressures and lock-ins, have little room to respond to citizens’ concerns during protests. In our conclusion, we compared our findings with those of an earlier application of QCA on a broader set of cases, including those analyzed here, to validate our findings and clarify the added value of MSSD.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental protest in China
• Chinese government strategy
• PX protest
• most similar systems design
• qualitative comparative analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702962.html, available on 23 June 2015.

2 http://www.infzm.com/content/9650, available on 23 June 2015.

3 http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/05/130504_china_kunming_protest_environment.shtml?MOB, available on 23 June 2015.

4 http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/05/130516_kunming_refinery_protest_reflection, available on 23 June 2015.

5 http://news.sohu.com/20130527/n377110866.shtml, available on 23 June 2015.

6 http://news.xinhuanet.com/local/2013-06/26/c_124910876.htm, available on 23 June 2015.

7 http://ucwap.ifeng.com/news/dalu/news?vt=5&aid=70763930&mid=, available on 23 June 2015.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71774024], Social Science & Humanity Foundation of Ministry of Education of China [grant number 17YJA630064] and Social Science Foundation of Liaoning Province [grant number L17BGL020].

Notes on contributors

Yanwei Li

Yanwei Li is an associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, and his research interests include: governance network, the governance of environmental conflicts and the governance of the sharing economy. His research has been published in international journals, such as Public Administration, Local Government Studies and Public Policy and Administration.

Yi Liu

Yi Liu is an associate professor at Dalian University of Technology, and her research interests include: governance, social risk governance and PPP. Here research has been published in international journals, such as Policy Studies, Sustainability and Water Science and Technology.

Joop Koppenjan

Joop Koppenjan is a full professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and his research interests include: governance network theory, collaborative innovation,institutional design, PPP, process management and complexity theory.