Networking for the Climate: Foreign Actors in Beijing

• In Event: China and Climate Change Politics

Abstract

How do international policy actors influence policy formulation in authoritarian regimes? To answer this question, we reexamine the climate policymaking process in China. Conventional scholarship approaches China’s policymaking through the lens of fragmented authoritarianism and political survival, international influence, however, has a minimal role to play. As in most societies, government agencies in authoritarian regimes are rarely isolated; they are embedded in intricate social relations, connecting various social groups with diverse, and sometimes competing, policy orientations. We contend that international climate entrepreneurs utilize their structural positions in the policy network to facilitate climate policy in China. To operationalize this concept, we conduct a network analysis using original network data from the climate policy community in Beijing between 2014 and 2019. We find that international policy actors play a significant role in the policy communities, and established connections with influential policymakers in China. These state-social linkages shape state agencies’ knowledge and policy preferences, which in turn determine the government’s willingness to provide public goods. This conceptualization of authoritarian governance reconciles insights from scholars who emphasize informational, infrastructural, and autonomous aspects of policymaking, offering a micro-level foundation for a state-led governance system.

Authors

• Jiaqi Lu, Boston University

• Joanna Lewis, Georgetown University