The Limits of State Reach: Micro-Level Policy Implementation in State-Led Environmentalism

• In Event: 30810 - Environmental Policymaking in Uncertain Times

Abstract

In the face of an urgent global environmental crisis, state-led environmentalism has been regarded by some scholars as an effective alternative to liberal democratic environmentalism. While previous research has thoroughly analyzed the operation and limitations of state-led environmentalism at the macro level, few studies have examined its performance in micro-level environmental policies aimed at changing citizens’ environmental behaviors. This paper seeks to fill this gap through a case study of Nanjing’s mandatory household waste classification policy in China. Findings suggest that while state-led environmentalism has strong mobilizing power, it struggles in sustaining behavioral change. Citizens’ environmental behavior is deeply embedded in everyday life, complicating policy implementation, increasing maintenance costs, and necessitating continuous state intervention, ultimately making policy effectiveness dependent on local state capacity and leading to uneven outcomes. Moreover, the non-participatory nature of state-led environmentalism not only limits citizens’ autonomous engagement but also marginalizes and stigmatizes existing environmental actors, further excluding bottom-up environmentalism at the micro level.

Authors

• Yanhua Deng, School of Sociology and Anthropology, Xiamen University

• Chengguang Hu, University of California-San Diego