TY - JOUR
T1 - Greening the Chinese Leviathan
T2 - China’s Renewable Energy Governance as a Source of Soft Power
AU - Chen, Geoffrey Chun-fung
AU - Lees, Charles
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This article examines China’s rapid and large-scale renewable energy expansion and the challenge it presents to orthodox approaches to sustainable energy diffusion that emphasise soft interventions and stakeholder participation. We show that China eschewed participatory modes of energy governance and pursued a centrally steered, hard interventionist strategy adapted to its non-democratic regime. We observe that China’s approach provides an alternative blueprint for development that is potentially attractive to some audiences. Drawing on recent soft power debates, we argue that China’s hard interventionist mode of governance in the renewables sector has the potential to enhance Chinese soft power both domestically and abroad.
AB - This article examines China’s rapid and large-scale renewable energy expansion and the challenge it presents to orthodox approaches to sustainable energy diffusion that emphasise soft interventions and stakeholder participation. We show that China eschewed participatory modes of energy governance and pursued a centrally steered, hard interventionist strategy adapted to its non-democratic regime. We observe that China’s approach provides an alternative blueprint for development that is potentially attractive to some audiences. Drawing on recent soft power debates, we argue that China’s hard interventionist mode of governance in the renewables sector has the potential to enhance Chinese soft power both domestically and abroad.
KW - China
KW - Climate change politics
KW - Renewables soft power
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105305280&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1057/s41268-021-00213-3
DO - 10.1057/s41268-021-00213-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105305280
SN - 1408-6980
VL - 25
SP - 79
EP - 106
JO - Journal of International Relations and Development
JF - Journal of International Relations and Development
IS - 1
ER -