a case study of the bamboo shoot production industry in Lin'An, China
Cardiff University
2015
Ph.D.
Cardiff University
2015
Since 1978 China has transformed itself from a planned economy to a market economy, which has been accompanied by the shift from state-centric government to the co-existence of hierarchical and multi-nuclei forms of governance. This research argues that there is a gap in the analysis of rural sustainability governance in China in which insufficient attention is given to: (1) how different governance forms, objectives, and goals affect policy implementation to achieve sustainable development; and (2) how the local state re-organises its functions to achieve socio-economic and ecological sustainability during the reform period. To evaluate the effectiveness of the local state to govern for the sustainable development of the bamboo shoot industry, this research integrates insights from ecological modernisation, political ecology, and eco-Marxism. These perspectives allow a more fruitful understanding of the factors that enable and constrain steering approaches, policy design, and implementation in the bamboo shoot industry. This dissertation explores resource allocation and management in the bamboo shoot industry in Lin'an, China. It critically examines how governance operates at the county level, which is a key level of governance for the delivery and practice of sustainable development programmes and policies. Data was collected through fieldwork in two towns, one in the upland and the other in the lowland, which enabled an exploration of networks linked to supply chains and geographical differences including both physical and social settings. Under market reform, the Central State decentralises economic rights and autonomy to the local state in Lin'an County, which has increased the synergy, interdependency, and partnership between the local state and non-state actors in the bamboo shoot production industry. This emerges as a multi-nuclei form of governance structure to manage bamboo shoot resources, maintain the local state's administrative authority and intervention, and to increase the indirect rule of the local state through new knowledge and technology production.