What is the Role of Hierarchical Interventions? Insights from the Evolution of Water Collaborative Governance in China

摘要

Abstract Collaborative governance has been viewed as an effective approach to solve the problem of environmental pollution. Recently, while some scholars have advanced the integral role of hierarchical interventions in collaborative processes and outcomes, less attention has been paid to the long-term evolution of hierarchical interventions through the lifecycle of collaboration. Based on the case study of water collaborations along the Maxi River in the Yangtze Delta region since 2001, this paper investigates the empirical evolution and influencing mechanisms of hierarchical interventions, primarily hands-off and hands-on interventions, at different collaboration development stages. The results show that collaborations along the Maxi River have experienced stages of activation, collectivity and institutionalization in the past twenty years, wherein the quality and extent of the collaborative dynamics have gradually enhanced. Hierarchical interventions are found to be context-specific, though both hands-off and hands-on intervention tools have potential to exert positive influence on the three collaborative dynamics (principled engagement, shared motivation and capacity building). Hands-on strategies, namely the superiors’ direct participation or support, are of great importance in the initial stage when stakeholders have conflicts of interests/values or failed past experiences. As the collaborative process matures, the superordinate governments would usually adopt hands-off tools to provide an institutional framework and a legitimate basis, thereby fostering participants’ interdependence and self-initiated motivations. Additionally, in Chinese context, hands-off tools tend to take more powerful effects than hands-on tools in the long term.