Networked environmental governance: formal and informal collaborative networks in local China

ABSTRACT

With the recent trend toward collaborative governance, governmental and nongovernmental actors are actively engaged in the environmental governance in China, forming formal and informal networks in this process. While existing research has mostly examined the formation of either formal or informal networks, few studies have examined the influence of formal networks on the formation of informal networks. This article examines the collaborative environmental governance network in China by studying the relationship between formal networks and informal networks. We conduct the research in the empirical context of local water governance in Dongguan city of Guangdong province, China. With survey data collected from 31 municipal departments, 32 town governments, 9 water-related private business and 5 NGOs, we test the hypothesis with Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) regression analysis. The results indicate that formal network does affect and contribute to the formation of informal network, and actors within the formal network are more likely to build informal relationships in environmental governance.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaborative governance
• environmental governance
• informal networks
• formal networks
• water governance

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 71633004), Research Startup Fund of Renmin University of China (Project 311318000121) and Project 2662018QD034 supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Notes on contributors

Chen Huang

Chen Huang is a lecturer in the College of Public Management at Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. She completed her PhD from the College of Public Administration in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2018. Her research interests focus on policy network and environmental governance.

Hongtao Yi

Hongtao Yi is an associate professor in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, and School of Public Administration and Policy at Renmin University of China. His research focuses on network governance, policy process, and energy and environmental policy.

Tao Chen

Tao Chen is a professor in the College of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. His research focuses on e-government, IT service standard, smart city, and medical information systems and social networks.

Xiaolin Xu

Xiaolin Xu is a professor in the College of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. He is a member of National Steering Committee for Master of Public Administration Education and steering Committee for the Discipline of Public Administration under the Ministry of Education in China. His research interests include digital city (e-government), and theories of public administration.

Shiying Chen

Shiying Chen is a PhD candidate in the college of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. He is interested in policy studies, collaborative governance, and e-government.