Book contents
- Clean Air at What Cost?
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Clean Air at What Cost?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Blunt Force Regulation
- Chapter 3 Why Blunt Force Regulation?
- Chapter 4 Blunt Force Regulation and Bureaucratic Control
- Chapter 5 The Impact of Blunt Force Regulation
- Chapter 6 What Are the Alternatives?
- Chapter 7 Managing the Risks
- Chapter 8 Comparative Implications
- Chapter 9 Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
Chapter 3 - Why Blunt Force Regulation?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 January 2023
- Clean Air at What Cost?
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
- Clean Air at What Cost?
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Blunt Force Regulation
- Chapter 3 Why Blunt Force Regulation?
- Chapter 4 Blunt Force Regulation and Bureaucratic Control
- Chapter 5 The Impact of Blunt Force Regulation
- Chapter 6 What Are the Alternatives?
- Chapter 7 Managing the Risks
- Chapter 8 Comparative Implications
- Chapter 9 Conclusion
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- Index
- Cambridge Studies in Law and Society
Summary
This chapter starts with the central puzzle of this book: Why do governments choose blunt force regulation to control pollution when more reasonable, sustainable solutions are possible? It proposes that governments choose this suboptimal approach because they seek, first and foremost, to overcome principal–agent problems within the state apparatus. Drawing on case research and interviews with government officials around China, this chapter illustrates how blunt force regulation creates shortcuts that allow political leaders to increase the credible threat of punishment towards noncompliant bureaucrats. These measures temporarily scare local authorities into enforcing policies as ordered, even after prolonged periods of noncompliance. Finally, this chapter offers some observable implications for this theory, which will be tested in ensuing chapters.
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- Clean Air at What Cost?The Rise of Blunt Force Regulation in China, pp. 49 - 63Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023