Abstract

Environmental issue is one of the most important affairs in China today，but the performance of local environmental governance is not satisfactory.How to explain this contrast between the state's high attention and insufficient performance of the local governance？Generally speaking，most of the existing studies have not focused on the operating mechanism of government.In other words，the actual rules of governmental process have not been given enough attention.In recent years，campaign style governance has made contributions to breaking through this dilemma，and has become the main paradigm for studying local environmental governance.However，this paradigm can't explain the widespread local policy innovation in environmental governance—this can be vividly called guerrilla style governance.

In order to overcome the deficiencies of the explanations above，this book proposes an integrated analysis framework of“adaptive governance”，and demonstrate it with a combination of quantitative and qualitative research.Adaptive governance is premised on the limited rationality of the local government and the complexity of the task environment.Since environmental governance is a process in which the subject of action mobilizes corresponding resources to solve related problems under the constraint of rules and time，the government's capability，the standardization of the task environment，and the urgency of the task constitute three important variables that shape environmental governance.Starting from the assumption of“Bounded rationality”and“complexity”，under the influence of the above three variables，local governments will adopt different types of governance behaviors such as symbolic governance，red-tapism governance，guerrilla style governance and campaign style governance.

The basic logic of symbolic governance lies in the fact that with less input in exchange for“good-looking”results.It takes catering to the environment，economizing on exertion，embarking attraction point as three basic strategies.In the“catering”，the local government focused on looking for the“political theater”，which would lead them to projects marked with symbols of“civilization”“green”and so on.In the“economizing”，the local government often saying without acting，acting without getting，so that their words and deeds become formalism.In the“embarking”，the local government wants to enlarge the output.Therefore，it is keen to organize activities，build vanity project and act following indicators.Symbolic governance is often a product of highly regulated tasks，but insufficient capacity of local governments.

Red-tapism governance refers to the manipulation of a variety of information carriers，in order to obtain“acceptable results”.There are three forms of red-tapism governance，mainly，tailoring，hiding and regulating information.In tailoring information，selectively releasing favorable information has become normal local practice；sometimes，experts and“authoritative data”are also manipulated.In hiding information，postponing the release of information is much common；In addition，deliberately concealment happens sometimes.In regulating information，in addition to“sealing”and media regulation，the local government may also recover and blockade information.Red-tapism governance is the result of highly urgent task，but the local government has insufficient capacity and the task is not highly regulated.

Guerrilla style governance is manifested as randomness of time and place.In China's local environmental governance，it mainly exists in the form of project system and local policy.Guerrilla style governance is the consequence of local government with plenty capacity，and the environment with soft constraint.This kind of governance can improve the overall resilience of the government system，can improve the adaptability of governance behavior，and can also improve the efficiency of governance.The performance of guerrilla style governance is a little deterministic；it may cause distraction of government attention，and may also affect policy coordination.

Campaign style governance is a kind of short-term remedial action with clear target，which is carried out by the government leaders and mobilized by the pressure system.It's worth noting that political task，environmental emergency management and environmental remediation are three typical and well-developed campaign style governance.The lack of constraint in mission environment，adequate ability of government and the urgency of tasks may contribute to this style of governance.Campaign style governance can only solve the environmental problems in a phased manner，and there is a tension between it with bureaucracy that is difficult to reconcile.

Symbolic governance，red-tapism governance，guerrilla style governance and campaign style governance actually constitute four operating mechanisms of adaptive governance.To local governments，these mechanisms are sufficient to cope with most situations，and therefore“enough”to them；but objectively，these“enough”are not enough to make the ecological environment really improve.Therefore，environmental governance is difficult to become the focus of local government's work constantly，they thus became the mechanism crux of local environmental governance.

From a process perspective，symbolic governance，red-tapism governance，guerrilla style governance and campaign style governance represent four different stages of government processes，namely，decline issues，gradually responding，and immediately processing and long-term running.This gives the governmental process an important characteristic of“organized disorder”.From an institutional perspective，adaptive governance stems from the shaping of“dual system”systemically；from the shaping of ideology on the power；from the shaping of administrative practices on the organization；from the shaping of administrative technology on the methodology.As far as China is concerned，adaptive governance stems from the civilizational characteristics of China's“learning state”.Therefore，to improve local environmental governance in China，it is necessary to strengthen the construction of a responsible government；to promote the construction of the Chinese rule of law；and to improve the rationality of environmental decision-making.

Key Words：Adaptive Governance；Environmental Governance；Governance Style；Government Process；Institution Analysis