Chinese national air protection policy development: A policy network theory analysis

Given its wide involvement in and recognition by international organizations, China has signed many international agreements and negotiations. This study verified how and the extent to which changes in exogenous factors (e.g., international agreements and negotiations) affect Chinese governmental air protection policy development. Previous studies on policy network theory have demonstrated that exogenous factors affected the development of domestic policies significantly, while in this study little evidence was found to demonstrate the influence of exogenous factors on changes in Chinese policy. Rather, internal factors have played an important role in both its development and transformation. These findings differ from study results on wealthy countries and other developing districts. This study then explores the causes of substandard policy outcomes. To probe this further, policy network theory is applied to explain the gap between the guiding principle of central government’s policies and local implementation in actual practice. By analyzing the strategies of policy actors and specific rules in current Chinese context, the associated limitations and obstacles in the process of policy-making and implementation can be explained from the aspect of bureaucratic system, energy market running mechanism and others. This paper recommends alterations in the current policy and structure based on these findings.