Session 12. 9. A.

The extant literature focuses more on the patterns and the driving forces of climate adaptation at the local level in Western institutional settings. However, local governments in China have also taken diverse adaptation actions to realize the national blueprint for carbon emission reduction. Thus, it comes to the research questions: why do local governments differ in climate adaptation actions? More specifically, what are combinations of factors and their leading mechanisms that account for local climate adaptation actions in China? To that end, this study adopts the theoretical framework of social-ecological systems (SES) to conceptualize the underlying patterns for diverse climate adaptation actions of local governments. An archetype analysis is conducted by a large-N QCA (qualitative comparative analysis) approach to extract combinations of factors that lead to diverse local climate adaptation actions from 289 cities in China, corroborating the theoretical hypotheses with a robustness test of FCA (formal concept analysis) approach. The research findings show that: (1) in the region with high level of economic development, the local government tends to take long-term adaptation actions (e.g., green infrastructure investment, personnel training, knowledge dissemination) to mitigate its endowment disadvantages and avoid the potential impacts of climate hazards on local economy, driven by the economic incentive that further increases its fiscal revenue; (2) in the less developed region, the local government tends to take short-term adaptation actions (e.g., instant plans for flooding and drought) to exploit its endowment advantages and tackle the immediate climate hazards, driven by the political incentive that magnifies its political performance of ensuring and improving people’s livelihoods and social-ecological security. This study highlights the underlying patterns for local diversity of climate adaptation actions with large-scale empirical evidence and contributes to a better understanding of governing the climate commons in transitional countries.

As digital common good, public data is of great importance for digital governance. Data silos in the government bureaucracy are traditionally associated with political structures that keep power decentralized and promote internal competition, but are they also present in highly centralized regimes? This study uses the Data Management Bureau (DMB) as a vehicle to understand how China’s local governments try to tackle data silos across the bureaucratic organizations. It analyzes two different mechanisms of data integration drawing on extensive field research across eastern and southern China conducted from 2022 to 2023. By leveraging campaign-style enforcement and institutional reform, a new vertical functional department has been established to manage public data and build the data pools. The collaboration among local government agencies, private and state-owned high-tech companies, research institutes, and civil society has been achieved through large-scale digitalization projects in the past decades. While identifying both technical and political barriers to efficient data integration, this study also investigates local governments’ relentless attempts to strengthen centralized control from the top down. The increasing tension embedded in the ‘tiao-kuai’ system requires policy innovation for inter-agency collaborations. Specifically, this study contributes to the literature on collective action by illustrating the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in collective decision-making.

The common pool resource (CPR) theory has inspired the recognition of community self-governance in natural resource management. However, many CPR literature treated government as an external variable to community, without sufficiently considering the close interaction between the two, especially in strong-government context. In this paper, we applied two case villages on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China with different governance systems for caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis), a CPR with lucrative values, to study the effects of the different interventions of the local government with multiple tasks from higher authorities. In both villages, we find that the local governments have demonstrated a resolute commitment to completing their tasks, with a particular focus on the core tasks, which has significantly influenced the institutional design in caterpillar fungus governance. However, in the institutional enforcement, local governments wield considerable discretion, which results in diverse paths and levels of effectiveness of caterpillar fungus governance. Rather than a forceful government that supplants community self-governance, a facilitative government that assists in monitoring and sanction can foster more robust community self-governance of caterpillar fungus. Our findings underscore the pivotal role that local governments play in CPR governance, which defines the characteristics of CPR governance in strong-government context. Furthermore, these findings enrich the applications of CPR governance theory, particularly in the aspect that how government-community interacts to develop a self-governance institution in strong-government context.

This paper contributes to scholarship on the role of state-reinforced self-governance, in averting the tragedy of urban commons by looking at China’s community regeneration program. The scholarly works on self-governance’s effectiveness are peppered with diverse arguments suggesting that: (i) the authority may destroy self-governing institutions of users, stay away so that users can develop self-governing institutions for management; (ii) the state-reinforced self governance allows a financially, technologically, statutorily, and politically strong state to assist community members to manage their commons. Thus, this article examines the management of the urban commons in China through a community regeneration program, explores the mechanism of state-reinforced self-governance, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of public participation.

Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System (SES) approach, is empolyed to illustrate how user self-governance occurs with strong state involvement. Community regeneration in China has undergone a process from the transformation of simple physical space to improving a comprehensive community environment. Studies demonstrate that urban commons management within community regeneration has been subject to failure or underperformance when the level of public participation were relatively low. Community regeneration involves a wide range of diversified and complex individuals and groups, while multiple factors affecting participation effects. Given this, the case of China is unique in that the state reinforces user self-governance and does not become involved in local operational activities, despite offering substantial assistance.

This article involved a review of the extant literature, a conceptual analysis, and participant observation, as well as extensive visits to the C Community in S City, China. To obtain information from the varied sources, the research team members volunteered to assist residents with their car parking activities, and interviewed local officials, property managers, and practitioners on numerous occasions. We also attended several decision-making meetings arranged by the communities.

The most important lesson that China’s state reinforced self-governance system conveys is that, when a state provides the resource users with financial, technological, statutory, and political support without undermining user autonomy, users can develop much stronger self-governing institutional arrangements that are needed.