1st Edition

Contemporary Environmental Policy Governance in China The Transformation of Municipal Solid Waste Management

By Victoria S. Zhou Copyright 2026
170 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

170 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book examines environmental governance in China during the Xi Jinping era. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, this book uses the eco-transformation of waste management as a case study to reveal how central authorities exert political pressure to enforce national policy visions, while local governments frequently resort to “minimum compliance”—a strategy that allows local authorities to cope... Read more

1. Introduction  2. Environmental Governance in China  3. MSW Eco-Management: A Cycle of Policy Trials and Failures  4. Central Steering in Policy Formulation  5. Local Steering in Policy Mobilisation  6. Policy Implementation: Minimum Compliance  7. Change Amid Continuity

Biography

Victoria S. Zhou is a political science researcher who received her PhD from the University of Tübingen, Germany. Her research examines the politics and society of the Greater China Region, as well as the experiences of overseas Chinese communities.

"A timely, empirically rich, and theoretically innovative work that deepens our understanding of China's environmental policy processes in Xi Jinping Era."

Lianjiang Li, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong

"China scholars have not stopped trying to understand the country's policy process in the Xi Jinping era. This excellently researched book provides profound insight into the complex local implementation of national policy guidelines, using waste separation as a case study. It sheds light on the limited steering capacities of the central government and the ongoing challenges of efficiently implementing policies in contemporary China."

Gunter Schubert, Professor of Greater China Studies at the Department of Chinese Studies, Tuebingen University, Germany