China Goes Green

What does it mean for the future of the planet when one of the world’s most durable authoritarian governance systems pursues “ecological civilization”? Despite its staggering pollution and colossal appetite for resources, China exemplifies a model of state-led environmentalism which concentrates decisive political, economic, and epistemic power under centralized leadership. On the face of it, China seems to embody hope for a radical new approach to environmental governance.   In this thought-provoking book, Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro probe the concrete mechanisms of China’s coercive environmentalism to show how ‘going green’ helps the state to further other agendas such as citizen surveillance and geopolitical influence. Through top-down initiatives, regulations, and campaigns to mitigate pollution and environmental degradation, the Chinese authorities also promote control over the behavior of individuals and enterprises, pacification of borderlands, and expansion of Chinese power and influence along the Belt and Road and even into the global commons. Given the limited time that remains to mitigate climate change and protect millions of species from extinction, we need to consider whether a green authoritarianism can show us the way. This book explores both its promises and risks.

Introduction: The Rise of Authoritarian Environmentalism Ecological Civilization as Political Philosophy A Global Call to Action What is State-led Environmentalism? Authoritarianism in Green Clothing Towards Mutually Agreed-upon Coercion 1 Asserting “Green” Control: The State and its Subjects Campaigns and Crackdowns Environmental Campaigns Justifications and Risks Target-setting Targets Gone Awry Behavior Modification Environmentalism at a Price Notes 2 “Green” China Pacifies its Borders One-size-fits-all Policymaking Afforestation by Monoculture The Loess Plateau as an Unscalable Success The Industrialized Forest of Uxin Banner Green Grabbing: Hydropower as Ecological Civilization and Modernization Green Grabbing as a Tool of Government Control Citizen Resistance: The Nu River and Tiger Leaping Gorge Ecological Migration: Sedentarizing Nomads and Building Parks Protected Areas and National Parks Pacifying Borderlands in the Name of the Environment 3 The State on the “Green” Belt and Road The Belt and Road Initiative and the Environment Win-win Green Development The Quest for Soft Power Green Technocracy A Morass of Contradictions 4 Global China Goes “Green” Mastering the Trade Game Banning Global Waste Imports Withholding Rare Earths Curbing the Endangered Species Trade Engineering China’s Atmosphere Blue Skies or Bust Constructing “Sky River”: Weather Modification on the Tibetan Plateau Outer Space Environmentalism: The Digital Belt and Road Geoengineering the Earth’s Climate Mining the Moon The Sleeping Lion Awakes 5 Environmental Authoritarianism on a Troubled Planet Environmental Fix Authoritarian Resilience Techno-political Underpinnings Transactional Logic Indispensable Civil Society Consultation under State Leadership References Index