Greening Without Conflict? Environmentalism, NGOs and Civil Society in China
Development and Change, Vol. 32, pp. 893-921, 2001
29 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2012
Date Written: 2001
Abstract
This article argues that the specific features and dynamics of China’s environmentalism can be attributed to two factors: the ‘greening’ of the Chinese state at the time when environmentalism emerged, and the alternating politics of toleration and strict control of social organizations. As a result, environmentalism has developed in a gradual way, encompassing the various forms of ‘green’ NGOs that we see in the West and the ex-socialist states of Eastern and Central Europe. Yet, on the other hand, environmentalism was also robbed of the opportunity, as well as the immediate urgency, to openly confront the government. This is where it deviates from environmentalism in the West and the former Eastern-bloc countries.
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