Changes in External Support and Environmental Regulatory Enforcement: A Longitudinal Study in Guangzhou, China

• In Event: New Patterns of China’s Environmental Governance

Abstract

This research examines how support from government and society on environmental protection has changed in Urban China. Using surveys in Guangzhou EPB in 2000 and 2013, we found that in enforcement officials’ eyes, societal support appears to be more related to collaborative than legalistic approaches over these years. In both surveys, societal support was not related to the enforcement styles of formalism and coercion, while positively related to the style of education and the degree of external influence on enforcement officials. Since enforcement effectiveness was positively related to prioritization while negatively related to the degree of external influence in the 2013 survey, societal support actually hampers enforcement effectiveness indirectly. Overall, our findings suggest that caution is needed when interpreting the impact of societal support on the regulatory enforcement in China.
Government support is also found not related to coercion, and positively related to the degree of external influence (in the 2013 survey). However, it positively relates to formalism (in the 2013 survey) and prioritization. Interestingly, in the 2000 survey, an indirect effect of government support through both educational and prioritized style was noted. In the 2013 survey, however, an indirect effect through educational style disappears while an indirect negative effect via external influence emerges. Overall, our findings indicate that though local government support remains an essential factor to improve regulatory enforcement directly, its indirect effect through enforcement styles have greatly evolved in the past 14 years in local China.

Authors

• Carlos Wing-Hung Lo, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Nicole Ning Liu, City University of Hong Kong