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WiSe 20/21: Chinese Environmental Politics

Maria Bondes

Kommentar

As a downside of China’s rapid economic development, China is facing a severe environmental crisis that also challenges the legitimacy of the ruling Chinese Communist party. Since coming to power in 2012, president Xi Jinping has intensified the party-state’s efforts to fight environmental degradation and steer the country’s development into a more sustainable direction. On the international stage, China has emerged as an important player in global environmental governance. Efforts to improve the state of China’s environment are also coming from an increasingly complex set of non-state actors – including environmental organizations, experts and lawyers, but also local communities standing up for their right to a clean and healthy living environment. This course introduces students to the main concepts and most recent empirical developments in Chinese environmental politics. Students will gain a nuanced understanding of the environmental challenges facing the country and the efforts taken by both state and non-state actors to solve China’s environmental crisis. The course will take place on Webex and Blackboard. Through weekly readings, in-class group exercises and discussion rounds, the course will tackle core questions such as: How are environmental policies made and implemented in China and how effective are they in fighting environmental degradation? What are opportunities and problems of China’s political system for the transition towards a more sustainable development path? And what role can non-state actors play in the governance process within the restrictive political opportunity structures? By studying these questions, students will also gain a deeper understanding of the broader structures and processes underlying Chinese policy-making and the dynamics of state-society relations in China. Throughout the course and guided by their own interests, students will develop their own project related to the issues covered in class. They will present their projects during a project phase towards the end of the seminar and learn to discuss each other’s works. All course materials will be in English. Presentations and in-class discussion rounds can be in English or German. Schließen