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Institutional obstacles and opportunities for policy entrepreneurship in cross-border environmental management: a case study in China’s Greater Pearl River Delta region

Institutional obstacles and opportunities for policy entrepreneurship in cross-border... Air pollution was placed very low on China's policy agenda in the 1990s. Sharing the PRD's Southern border, Hong Kong became increasingly concerned with the pollution originating from their rapidly developing neighbors. This paper offers an explanatory study for the implementation of a trans-boundary air quality monitoring network in 2005 which was, in many ways, considered a breakthrough in environmental cooperation in this region. Empirical evidence demonstrates that extended efforts from a Hong Kong official had eventually triggered the Guangdong provincial government and the Hong Kong government to undertake a range of collaborative measures to improve regional air quality, including the establishment of the Pearl River Delta regional air quality monitoring network in 2005. Building upon the concept of “policy entrepreneurship,” this study discovers that the policy entrepreneur's political rank endowed him with direct access to the formal cross-border institution, through which he was able to build a close professional relationship with his mainland counterparts and enables him to be a transfer agent. This case illustrates that state actors are well-placed in this region's trans-boundary platforms to initiate the transfer of policy innovations to neighboring governments, which prompts the formulation of cooperative projects. Nonetheless, this paper also cautions that effective cross-border collaboration is still largely dependent upon the contextual framework of the authoritarian governance regime whereby the interactions between policymakers and implementers are fundamentally shaped by institutional design and incentives. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Geographer Taylor & Francis

Institutional obstacles and opportunities for policy entrepreneurship in cross-border environmental management: a case study in China’s Greater Pearl River Delta region

Chu, Vivian H. Y.; Lee, Anna Ka-yin
Asian Geographer , Volume 36 (2): 19 – Jul 3, 2019
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Institutional obstacles and opportunities for policy entrepreneurship in cross-border environmental management: a case study in China’s Greater Pearl River Delta region

Abstract

Air pollution was placed very low on China's policy agenda in the 1990s. Sharing the PRD's Southern border, Hong Kong became increasingly concerned with the pollution originating from their rapidly developing neighbors. This paper offers an explanatory study for the implementation of a trans-boundary air quality monitoring network in 2005 which was, in many ways, considered a breakthrough in environmental cooperation in this region. Empirical evidence demonstrates that extended...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2019 Hong Kong Geographical Association
ISSN
2158-1762
eISSN
1022-5706
DOI
10.1080/10225706.2018.1563797
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Air pollution was placed very low on China's policy agenda in the 1990s. Sharing the PRD's Southern border, Hong Kong became increasingly concerned with the pollution originating from their rapidly developing neighbors. This paper offers an explanatory study for the implementation of a trans-boundary air quality monitoring network in 2005 which was, in many ways, considered a breakthrough in environmental cooperation in this region. Empirical evidence demonstrates that extended efforts from a Hong Kong official had eventually triggered the Guangdong provincial government and the Hong Kong government to undertake a range of collaborative measures to improve regional air quality, including the establishment of the Pearl River Delta regional air quality monitoring network in 2005. Building upon the concept of “policy entrepreneurship,” this study discovers that the policy entrepreneur's political rank endowed him with direct access to the formal cross-border institution, through which he was able to build a close professional relationship with his mainland counterparts and enables him to be a transfer agent. This case illustrates that state actors are well-placed in this region's trans-boundary platforms to initiate the transfer of policy innovations to neighboring governments, which prompts the formulation of cooperative projects. Nonetheless, this paper also cautions that effective cross-border collaboration is still largely dependent upon the contextual framework of the authoritarian governance regime whereby the interactions between policymakers and implementers are fundamentally shaped by institutional design and incentives.

Journal

Asian Geographer – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jul 3, 2019

Keywords: Greater Pearl River Delta; air pollution; cross-border environmental management; policy entrepreneurship; policy transfer

References

  • Active Cross-border Regions: Institutional Dynamics and Institution Building
  • Public Management Policy and Practice in Western China: Metapolicy, Tacit Knowledge, and Implications for Management Innovation Transfer
  • New Trends in Urban and Regional Governance in the Pearl River Delta Region
  • Cross-border Co-operation in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta The Long Road of Institution Building
  • Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy-making
  • Policy Entrepreneurship in China’s Response to Urban Poverty
  • Ecological Modernisation as a Weak Form of Sustainable Development in Hong Kong
  • One Country, Two Systems, One Smog Cross-boundary Air Pollution Policy Challenges for Hong Kong and Guangdong
  • Environmental Reviews and Case Studies: Limitations and Challenges of Provincial Environmental Protection Bureaus in China’s Environmental Data Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
  • Realizing Water Transitions. The Role of Policy Entrepreneurs in Water Policy Change
  • Polluted Air or Policy Advance in Hong Kong-Guangdong?
  • Origins of the Second Wave of Performance Funding Adoptions
  • Tackling Cross-border Environmental Problems in Hong Kong: Initial Responses and Institutional Constraints
  • The Role of Private Sector in Built Heritage Conservation: A Case Study of Xinhepu, Guangzhou
  • Bridging the Gaps?: Cross-border Governance and Sustainable Spatial Development
  • Hong Kong – Mainland Innovations in Environmental Protection Since 1980
  • ‘Fragmented Authoritarianism 2.0’: Political Pluralization in the Chinese Policy Process
  • Policy Entrepreneurs and the Diffusion of Innovation
  • Policy Entrepreneurship and Policy Change
  • Policy Entrepreneurship and Multi-level Governance: A Comparative Study of European Cross-border Regions
  • Implementing Integrated River Basin Management in China
  • Why Advocacy Coalitions Matter and Practical Insights About Them
  • Transformation of Cross-boundary Governance in the Greater Pearl River Delta, China: Contested Geopolitics and Emerging Conflicts
  • Transparency and Information Disclosure in China's Environmental Governance
  • The Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network-Regional Collaborative Efforts on Joint Air Quality Management
  • Science–policy Interplay: Air Quality Management in the Pearl River Delta Region and Hong Kong
  • Policy Entrepreneurship, Institutional Constraints, and Local Policy Innovation in China
  • Cross-border Governance: Balancing Formalized and Less Formalized Co-operations