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Chapter Four: China’s Changing Decision Making Model
When discussing national policies, the domestic factor of decision-making process
should also be considered as well. A more closed-door model of decision-making
would lead to a more leader- or small group-oriented decision; on the other hand, if
the decision-making process would lean to outside assess or public-pressure model,
the policies would then reflect more of public voices. No matter which process is
being used in China now for environmental policies, it is patently affecting the
trajectory of environmental and sustainable development for China in recent years.
Five decision making models were categorized. In this chapter, all the models would
be introduced and further focused on the two models that would commensurately fit
air pollution and environmental protection policies.
Introduction of The Five Decision Making Models in China
Scholars have categorized and listed out the five different models through China’s
decision-making history. Separately, they are “the closed-door model”, “the
mobilization model”, “the inside access model”, “the outside access model”, and “the
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popular-pressure model.”42 In this chapter, only “the closed-door model” and “the
popular-pressure models would be introduced in detail because these two represent
the two extreme of policy decision making process which China both applied. The
popular pressure model has grown as a huge social power and the opinion of the
public has somehow been influential to the core of China in recent years.
The Closed-door Model
The closed-door model could be traced back to Mao Zedong’s time. the main
purpose and idea was to exclude the participation of the public and made the decision
on the ruler’s own will. Either from the top leader or from the small leading group, it
would be unnecessary for general public to engage in the decision making process. In
this model, the public was assumed of lacking the ability to understand the
complexities of the policy issue, and therefore, at no point is the public greatly
involved. The other reason for the unnecessity of public involvement would be the
decision-making time will last too long and by that time, maybe the circumstances
will not meet the leader’s interest.
42 Shaoguang Wang, “Changing Models of China’s Policy Agenda Setting,” The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University.
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For the closed-door model, it could mostly be found in authoritarian states like
China (in the past), Cuba, and North Korea.43 But still, in modern China, closed-door
model has not yet fully disappeared. For example, in 1988, the CCP Politburo realized
that prices had risen so fast that people could no longer endure it, the state council
then took some measures44 to hold down prices to stabilize the domestic purchasing
market. But for most of the time, this decision-making model would be discovered at
economic policies, which the market changed so swiftly and for China some measures
taken by central governing team would be much effective than letting all provinces to
make decisions on their own. However, the previous example let the consumer price
index rocketed all the way to 18.8 percent in 1988 and discontent was soon
contagious, which partly foreshadowed the political crisis in 1989.45 Closed-door
model is a two-sided blade interpreting that general public would feel the wisdom of
the decision maker if he or she made the right decision, but on the other hand, once a
decision maker made the wrong decision, strong aftermath could lead to political
crisis or even worse situations.
43 Sukhoon Hong, “What Does North Korea Want from China? Understanding Pyongyang’s Policy Priorities toward Beijing,” The Korean Journal of International Studies 12 (2014): 281.
44 Those measures included exerting control over government expenditures and cutting down investment in fixed assets. Then the state council decided to increase the purchase prices of some agricultural products and to replace the old practice of price-fixing with open subsidies to urban employees.
45 Ibid., 41.
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A similar model as closed-door would be “the mobilization model.” The main
difference between the two model is that the latter policy makers have to go out, reach
the general public to acquire the support of the mass public for its implementation but
at the same time, the announcement of the new program is in fact the final result of
governmental decision making.46 This kind of model was implemented when policy
makers lack the resources necessary for executing the agenda or when the public has
developed a strong sense of participation.47 Mostly it was applied in setting almost all
major and strategic agendas in Mao’s era from Land Reform, the Three-Anti and
Five-Anti campaigns, the Great Leap Forward to the Cultural Revolution. After the
opening of China, some issues remained to be raised under this decision-making
progress48. For example, the one child policy in 1980, speeding up the reform of the
urban economy in 1984, pushing forward the wage reform in state-owned enterprises
in 1985, restructuring the labor system through breaking the iron rice bowl in 1986,
46 Roger Cobb, Jennie-Keith Ross, and Marc Howard Ross, “Agenda building as a Comparative Political Process,” The American Political Science Review 70 (1976): 135.
47 Other possible timing includes: when the legitimacy of the closed-door model is widely questioned, if successful implementation of such as agenda requires widespread, enthusiastic support from the mass public
48 “Zhongguo gongchandang dashiji, 1978–2003” (Chronicle of the Chinese Communist Party, 1978–
2003), Renmin wang (People’s Web). Last accessed:
http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64162/64164/index.html
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and advancing the reform of the old-age pension system of public enterprises in 1995.
but more and more issues are now being disclosed to the public and thus other forms
of decision-making process have begun to take over.
The Inside Access Model
In this model, there is only interaction between policy makers and advisors, but
little, if any, interaction between the mass public and policy makers. This model was
applied more frequently after the reform. Though public was not the decisive element
of decision-making, the leaders had changed the mindsets and let a little more number
of people, which is the official brain trust that is close to the core of the power.49 The
name implies the decision making process came from “inside” which refers to the
leader or the small groups rather than the “outside” which is the mass public. One
good example is the communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations
between China and West Germany on September 29, 1972. During the cold war time,
WangShu, a staff reporter with the Xinhua News Agency in West Germany, wrote an
in-depth analysis of the Soviet strategic posture suggested that China should abandon
the old view that West Germany was a “militaristic, revanchist country.” His voice
49 Andreas Hofem, and Sebastian Heilmann, “Bringing the Low-Carbon Agenda to China: A Study in Transnational Policy Diffusion,” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 42 (2013): 201.
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was the crucial point for China to speedily develop relations with West Germany. The
main reason for China to accept the model was that “China had profoundly altered its
strategic priorities.” It changes from making a country to stand on its own feet to the
prosper of it.50
The Outside Access Model
As we move on, public voices were trying to catch more attention to the
government. This model refers to a situation in which a citizen or a group of them
submits suggestions on public affairs in the form of a letter to central decision makers,
excluding complaints or appeals about the interests of an individual or a small
group.51 However, for these “policy advisors,” they are neither professional trained
nor socially or economically prestigious, their voices and proposals often end up in
trash can or leaders’ assistant, rarely have the chance to catch attention. This has been
true both in the past and the present, in China and elsewhere. But successful examples
can still be seen. In 2003, local organizations strongly opposed the hydroelectric
project on the Nu River since the river was literally listed as a natural property by
UNESCO one month before the National Development and Reform Commission’s
50 Ibid., 41.
51 Setsuko Matsuzawa, “Citizen Environmental Activism in China: Legitimacy, Alliances, and Rights-based Discourses,” ASIA Network Exchange 19 (Spring 2012): 81-91.
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approval of the project. They mobilized the media in an effort to win over the public
and wrote letters to the leaders of the State Council. Therefore, Wen Jiabao declared
the immediate halt of the project for the goodness of the citizens and the protection of
the river.52 The model is showing the change from authoritarian regime to more
democratic and willing to listen and answer to the public. This model is expected to
be one of the major models for China’s future agenda setting.
The Popular Pressure Model
As we move on, public voices were trying to catch even more attention to the
government. This model refers to a situation in which a citizen or a group of them
submits suggestions on public affairs in the form of any propaganda to central
decision makers and the mass public, including complaints or appeals about the
interests of an individual or a small group.53 This model can be seen as the extension
of outside access model. As public awareness of certain issues arouses swiftly, the
public feel the need for them to inform to the government about their thoughts. Three
main features can be categorized: (1) issues emerge from nongovernmental sources
52 “WenjiabaochurenyiliaozhantingNiJiangshuibaxiangmu” (Wen Jiabao halted the Nu River Dam Project), Epoc Times, April 9, 2004. Last accessed: http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/4/4/9/n506057.htm
53 Frances S. Berry, and William D. Berry, “Innovation and Diffusion Models in Policy Research,”
Theories of the Policy Processes (1999): 169-200.
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(2) agenda initiators are not difficult to identify when an issue is first brought
forward54 (3) may not function until an issue turns from the interest of a small
attentive public to the public agenda concerning many people. Environmental
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in China plays the essential role of sending the
popular pressure to its government. Serving as the bridge between mass public and
government, their mission is to let both parties communicate. In other words, to
eliminate the information asymmetric between mass public and government.55 This
model is the growing force in China to push the decision-making process more toward
public and expected to be one of the major models for China’s future agenda setting in
many aspects.
The Growing Power of Public Pressure on Environment Issues
For the last decade, China have been pursuing the single-minded highest possible
aggregated growth rate. And this has resulted in a whole series of acute challenges.
Including environmental crisis, the widening income gap, the lack of economic and
54 We could identify two groups of public, “attentive public” and “general public.” The former one is always a tiny segment of the population, consists of those who are most interested and involved in an issue; general public is the majority of population whose attention to most public issues tend to be transitory and who are seldom involved in policy disputes for long.
55 Tsai Fuyao, “Huanbao NGO fazhanzhongdemeitijiaosetanxi”(Analysis on the developing media character of environmental NGOs), Renmin Wang (People’s Web), July 15, 2015. Last accessed:
http://media.people.com.cn/BIG5/n/2015/0715/c397479-27308164.html
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social security and so on.56 Now, this is the time for China to change course by
pursing more balanced and more coordinated socioeconomic development. Hence, the
public pressure from different aspect can be the changing force for China. With some
key roles such as associational revolution, the changing role of the mass media, and
the rise of the internet, public pressures are able to influence the decision China has
made. We separately discussed the three.
The associational revolution.
Over 190,000 associations of various types was registered till March 2007, with
government civil affairs departments at the county level and above.57 Among all the
associations, NGOs and environmental groups are the most active associations in
China. But at 1990s, pollution was not a grave problem and did not trouble most
people. Things began to change, in year 2004, with incomplete statistics, there were at
least 2000 environmental NGOs in the nation.58 Fu Tao, a senior scholar in China
suggested, “In year 2003 and 2004, local environmental NGOs have participated
many public events with different and vivid characteristics, this indicates that the
56 Gabriel Wildau, “China Income Inequality Among World’s Worst,” Financial Times, January 14, 2016. Last accessed: https://www.ft.com/content/3c521faa-baa6-11e5-a7cc-280dfe875e28
57 MinZhengbu, 2007
58 Hong DaYong, “minjian huanbao liliang chengzhang jizhi yanjiu” (A Study of the Growth
Mechanism of Nongovernmental Environmental Protectionist Forces), Forum of the Friends of Nature, June 2004. Last accessed: http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3959
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NGOs’ influential is moving forward into the public. Environmental NGOs have
successfully expanded their social effectiveness and pressure through the wide
coverage of media.”59 The successful environmental NGOs included Global Village
Beijing (GVB) and Friends of Nature (FON) were even enlisted in the Beijing
Olympics organizing committee.60 The involvement of NGOs in the national level
committee implied the growing power of NGOs in the decision making progress.
Mass media
Mass media is the direct contact from either government or any types of
organizations to the public. With the familiarity of mass media, environmental
organizations could manage to affect the decision-making process by spreading the
message to the public and thus public pressure was created. In recent years, the
Chinese people have shown growing concern about different issue areas such as
agriculture, farmers, migrant workers, ecological environment, public health,
inequality and others. Mass media then serves as a perfect platform for various social
groups to articulate their needs and interests’ preferences, and help turning people’s
59 “Huanjingbaofuyugongzhongcanyu: Zhongguohuanbao NGO defazhan” (Environmental Protection and Public Participation: The Development of China’s Environmental NGO), Zhongguo Wang (China’s Net), July 27, 2007. Last accessed: http://www.usc.cuhk.edu.hk/wk_wzdetails.asp?id=3959
http://big5.china.com.cn/aboutchina/zhuanti/lsxd/2007-07/27/content_8590545_2.htm
60 Timothy Hildebrandt, and Jennifer L. Turner, “Green Activism? Reassessing the Role of Environmental NGOs in China,” Routledge 41, 2009.
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The rise of the internet
The internet has provided another type of mass media for the association to
spread their message even faster and slowing changing the activism’s landscape.61 In
1997, China only had 620,000 internet users; at year 2007, this figure skyrocketed to
162 million, an astounding leap by any standard.62 In between the growth, when the
internet population in China exceeded 45 million in 2002, public online discussion
increased dramatically. The internet served as an information disclosure platform for
people to understand what the government and others are implementing. 2003 was
seemed as “the year of online public cyberspace.”63 There are some distinctive
features about internet which let it stand out so different as the previous mass media
like newspaper. The first one is every person is a potential information provider and
receiver. The second one is the number of potential information providers is in the
millions rather than in the hundreds or thousands. The figure will expand as the
internet population grows. The third one is the information flows in more than one
61 Guobin Yang, “The Power of the Internet in China: Citizen Activism Online,” Columbia University Press, 2009.
62 Yi Shu, “There Are Now as Many Internet Users in China as There Are People in Europe,”
Mashable Asia, January 25, 2017. Last accessed: http://mashable.com/2017/01/25/china-internet-users-731-million/#QnPz1j9PDiq5
63 Ibid., 41.
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direction. Last but not the least, information on the internet can reach every corner of
the Earth instantaneously.64 Opening up the free access has been an issue for China
recently because of the widely spread usage of internet, it could cause a turmoil
politically and impose pressures on the ruling party. After all, without a doubt, the
public pressure decision-making model has become increasingly important and the
rise of internet and environmental organizations are also pushing the decision-making
toward it. With the three key reasons, public pressure model would inevitably become
one of the most influential decision making process from now on.
The Effect of Changing Decision-making Model to Government’s Awareness of Environmental Issues
Although the introducing of the public pressure model for decision-making
process, environmental concerns is now only paving its way of influencing policies.
China is now one of the world’s biggest polluters. Yet there are signs of changing
underway as the government faces mounting public pressure over environmental
degradation.65 A key documentary called “Under the Dome”66, which investigated
64 This could only be true if the infrastructure were done even in the countryside so that the radio region could reach the remote part of a country.
65 Yanzhong Huang, “Is China Serious About Pollution Controls?”, Council on Foreign Relations, November 20, 2015. Available on: http://www.cfr.org/china/china-serious-pollution-controls/p37270 (last available on 23 April)
66 Celia Hatton, “Under the Dome: The Smog Film Taking China by Storm,” BBC News, March 2, 2015. Last accessed: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-31689232
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China’s air pollution and its impact on health, went viral in March 2015. It received
about 200 million views on Chinese websites. Just after the release of the
documentary, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee restated its plan to
implement “ecological civilization reforms.” Through movie or documentary, a strong
mass media, scholars and researchers in China could report the air pollution statistics
for citizens in China to trigger the concern about their own ecological environment.
But still, these examples are not often seen. Few environmental NGOs in China have
the will and capacity to initiate public interest litigations. Unlike another large
emerging country, India, environmental NGOs in China tend to be small and lack the
means to specialize in both environment and law, not to mention carry out high
means to specialize in both environment and law, not to mention carry out high