Dr Joy Zhang, Lecturer in Sociology, is the lead author of the book, Green Politics in China: Environmental Governance and State-Society Relations, published by Pluto Press in June 2013.
Based on interviews with members of grassroots organisations, media and government institutions, Green Politics in China provides an in-depth and engaging account of the novel ways in which Chinese society is responding to its environmental crisis, using examples rarely captured in Western media or academia.
Zhang and co-author Michael Barr explain how environmental problems are transforming Chinese society through new developments such as the struggle for clean air, low-carbon conspiracy theories, new forms of public fund raising and the international tactics of grassroots NGOs. In doing so, they challenge static understandings of state-society relations in China and provide crucial insights into how China is both changing internally and emerging as a powerful player in global environmental politics.
This book has already received praise from both within and outside academia. Tony Saich, Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University, commented that ‘This book should be read by all those with an interest in the future of our planet and in the changing relationship between state and society in China.’