Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.

From the discourse analysis perspective, ecopolitics has experienced a discourse change from authoritarianism to democracy. This study uses theory of authoritarianism and democracy in ecopolitics to explore the impact of authoritarian ecopolitical discourse (AED) and democratic ecopolitical discours...

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Main Authors: Xinyun Hu, Mingming Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239872&type=printable
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author Xinyun Hu
Mingming Li
author_facet Xinyun Hu
Mingming Li
author_sort Xinyun Hu
collection DOAJ
description From the discourse analysis perspective, ecopolitics has experienced a discourse change from authoritarianism to democracy. This study uses theory of authoritarianism and democracy in ecopolitics to explore the impact of authoritarian ecopolitical discourse (AED) and democratic ecopolitical discourse (DED) on environmental quality in China. After analysis using panel data and comparison of three main regions, results suggest a negative relationship between AED of the central government and environmental quality. By contrast, a positive relationship exists between AED of local governments and environmental quality. A positive relationship exists between DED, which measures the proposals of People's Congress deputies and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and environmental quality. Nevertheless, the positive effect of DED is weaker than that of AED. The impact is also different among the regions. Our interpretations are as follows. China's current governance mechanism is a top-down decision-making mechanism, rather than a bottom-up information transmission mechanism. The concentration of power keeps decision-making power and resources away from levels with considerably accurate information and capabilities in problem solving. Therefore, we suggest that governments should change their decision-making process and exert effort to be transparent to the entire society. A bottom-up mechanism of information collection and transmission should be established, such as environmental inspection mechanism and checking on cadres' achievements with green GDP.
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spelling doaj-art-3af9c96bf55c45178b3f6f4fe5d735852025-08-20T02:12:07ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-011510e023987210.1371/journal.pone.0239872Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.Xinyun HuMingming LiFrom the discourse analysis perspective, ecopolitics has experienced a discourse change from authoritarianism to democracy. This study uses theory of authoritarianism and democracy in ecopolitics to explore the impact of authoritarian ecopolitical discourse (AED) and democratic ecopolitical discourse (DED) on environmental quality in China. After analysis using panel data and comparison of three main regions, results suggest a negative relationship between AED of the central government and environmental quality. By contrast, a positive relationship exists between AED of local governments and environmental quality. A positive relationship exists between DED, which measures the proposals of People's Congress deputies and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and environmental quality. Nevertheless, the positive effect of DED is weaker than that of AED. The impact is also different among the regions. Our interpretations are as follows. China's current governance mechanism is a top-down decision-making mechanism, rather than a bottom-up information transmission mechanism. The concentration of power keeps decision-making power and resources away from levels with considerably accurate information and capabilities in problem solving. Therefore, we suggest that governments should change their decision-making process and exert effort to be transparent to the entire society. A bottom-up mechanism of information collection and transmission should be established, such as environmental inspection mechanism and checking on cadres' achievements with green GDP.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239872&type=printable
spellingShingle Xinyun Hu
Mingming Li
Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
PLoS ONE
title Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
title_full Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
title_fullStr Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
title_full_unstemmed Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
title_short Ecopolitical discourse: Authoritarianism or democracy? - Evidence from China.
title_sort ecopolitical discourse authoritarianism or democracy evidence from china
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239872&type=printable
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