Green Politics in China ― Environmental Governance and State-society Relations

Based on interviews with members of grassroots organizations, media and government institutions, Green Politics in China provides an in-depth and engaging account of the novel ways in which Chinese society is responding to its environmental crisis, using examples rarely captured in Western media or academia.

Joy Y. Zhang and Michael Barr explain how environmental problems are transforming Chinese society through new developments such as the struggle for clean air, low-carbon conspiracy theories, new forms of public fund raising and the international tactics of grassroots NGOs. In doing so, they challenge static understandings of state-society relations in China.

Green Politics in China is an illuminating and detailed investigation which provides crucial insights into how China is both changing internally and emerging as a powerful player in global environmental politics.

Joy Y Zhang is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent, UK and is an Affiliated Researcher at the College d'Etudes Mondiales, Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, France. She is the author of The Cosmopolitanization of Science: Stem Cell Governance in China (2012).


Michael Barr is a Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University, UK. He is the author of Who's Afraid of China? The Challenge of Chinese Soft Power (2011).