Clean air at what cost? The rise of Blunt Force Regulation in China

As the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, China’s environmental governance attracts global attention. Since the second decade of the 21st century, the importance of constructing an ecological civilization has been continuously elevated in China, even being enshrined in the Chinese Constitution in 2018. Chinese President Xi Jinping has advocated for ‘the strictest system and most rigorous rule of law to protect the ecological environment.’ In this context, a war on environmental pollution has been launched in China, achieving some environmental successes. However, the methods and costs of these environmental governance measures have not been systematically analyzed academically. This is precisely what Denise van der Kamp’s new book, ‘Clean Air at What Cost? The Rise of Blunt Force Regulation in China,’ addresses. In this book, the author innovatively proposes the concept and theory of Blunt Force Regulation, offering a refreshing new paradigm for interpreting and analyzing China’s environmental governance.

Firstly, the introduction of the book reveals the characteristics and application background of Blunt Force Regulation in China’s environmental governance through a case study of Linyi city. In 2015, due to severe pollution issues, Linyi was forced to shut down a large number of factories, leading to massive unemployment and economic losses. This case demonstrates two unique features of Blunt Force Regulation in China: the state’s one-size-fits-all restrictions on enterprises; and local government officials taking extreme measures to ensure immediate regulatory outcomes.

The author points out that in recent years, local governments in China have frequently adopted top-down ‘blunt force’ solutions to address environmental problems. These measures include forcibly closing factories or suspending operations through power cuts, despite the immense economic and employment losses they bring to local areas. The book aims to explain why a state like China, perceived to have high governance capacity, would adopt such costly pollution control methods. In the theoretical analysis section, the author discusses in detail the principal-agent problems political leaders face in pollution governance. Central leaders lack the expertise and oversight capacity to verify whether local bureaucrats are genuinely implementing environmental policies, making local environmental issues difficult to accurately and effectively detect and address. To tackle this challenge, China uses Blunt Force Regulation through indiscriminate sanctions to simplify the oversight of local bureaucratic behavior by central or provincial officials, making policy implementation more direct and verifiable.

The empirical analysis in this book tests hypotheses using data from 283 Chinese prefecture-level cities. The results show a significant correlation between Blunt Force Regulation and poor bureaucratic implementation. Low-revenue cities, where leaders lack the will and resources for environmental policies, are more subject to Blunt Force Regulation. Conversely, high-revenue cities experience less Blunt Force Regulation due to better compliance. The methodology is robust, the writing logic is clear and the conclusions are persuasive. Detailed case studies, such as Linyi, vividly demonstrate the process and effects of Blunt Force Regulation. The comparative studies also reveal that Blunt Force Regulation is not unique to China but is also present in countries like India and the Philippines, demonstrating the book’s rigorous nature.

As a reader and researcher, I wonder if the book could explore more deeply into certain areas. Firstly, the author discusses environmental authoritarianism in China’s governance, often contrasting authoritarian regimes with democratic ones, but does not clearly differentiate Blunt Force Regulation from environmental authoritarianism. Is Blunt Force Regulation a new manifestation of China’s environmental authoritarianism, or is it a distinct strategy? In the policy recommendations, the author suggests China should develop bottom-up environmental governance models. It would be helpful to clarify whether this aims to address the shortcomings of Blunt Force Regulation or environmental authoritarianism.

Secondly, The principal-agent problem is not unique to China but prevalent in various regimes. If China’s Blunt Force Regulation achieves significant outcomes, how does it compare to other countries’ bottom-up approaches in improving environmental quality? The author argues that China adopts Blunt Force Regulation because central officials find it difficult to effectively evaluate local officials, suggesting a top-down political demand. However, in China’s political system, local officials seem to welcome or at least do not resist such simple, one-size-fits-all methods because they reduce the need for governing skill and quickly produce effective results, thus appeasing higher authorities. Therefore, the emergence of Blunt Force Regulation in China merits a more comprehensive analysis.

Last but not least, many leading environmental countries initially faced severe pollution and adopted the ‘pollute first, clean up later’ approach. Early pioneering countries also used stringent measures to tackle pollution. The book compares common law countries like the Philippines, India, and the UK. In the 1970s-90s, civil law countries like Germany and Japan also enforced strict environmental regulations. Did these countries experience Blunt Force Regulation? The book’s comparative research may benefit from further illustration.

Overall, the book effectively uncovers the motivations and impacts of China’s Blunt Force Regulation in environmental governance. The author combines theoretical and empirical research to offer a novel interpretation of China’s approach, showcasing significant innovation. The core arguments are thought-provoking, noting that while Blunt Force Regulation may yield short-term results, its high costs and local economic disruptions warrant policy reflection. This book provides fresh perspectives on China’s environmental policies and valuable insights for other developing countries facing environmental challenges.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Social Science Fund of China [Grant No.23FFXB003].