UDTR — Radar mondial des droits de la Nature

Institutional Design of Collaborative Water Governance: The River Chief System in China

Identification

Clé publique

radar:r-4daac7cec11a5836fe9b0d5553d81d7d

Auteurs

Xiaomeng Zhou · Yanliu Lin · Pieter Hooimeijer · Jochen Monstadt

Année déclarée

2025

Langue déclarée

en

Type source

article

Première détection

2026-11-14T02:42:11.412778+00:00

Dernière observation des métadonnées

2026-11-14T02:42:11.412778+00:00

Dernière vérification HTTP

Non effectuée

Institutions déclarées par la source

Utrecht University

Pays d’affiliation déclarés

NL

Résumé documentaire — langue originale

ABSTRACT Collaborative governance has been increasingly applied in the field of water governance. However, this approach is often criticized for overlooking the political nature of water governance and the necessity of collaboration across multiple dimensions. The river chief system (RCS) in China represents a collaborative water governance approach designed to address collaboration challenges in Chinese water governance sector and ultimately combat its severe river pollution. This study develops a conceptual framework to analyze the institutional design of the RCS and examine its effectiveness in structuring vertical, horizontal, and territorial collaborations in local water governance. Taking the RCS in Xiamen as a case study, we find that public entities predominantly engage in collaborative initiatives mandated by higher‐level authorities, while collaborations between state and nonstate actors mainly focus on information collection and public environmental education. The collaborative processes under the RCS are characterized by the unchallenged authority of political leaders, exclusive decision‐making mechanisms, restricted information flows, implicit pay‐off structures, and limited involvement of nonstate actors. Consequently, the institutional design of the RCS falls short in fostering effective multidimensional collaboration among diverse actors. This study contributes to the literature on collaborative governance by offering insights into the institutional design of collaborative water governance within an authoritarian context and sheds lights on China's recent reforms of environmental governance.

Identifiants

OPENALEX

https://openalex.org/W4407830135

DOI

10.1002/eet.2152

Repères documentaires

Famille documentaire

article

Types déclarés par les sources

article

Éditeurs

Wiley

Les mentions d’entités ne constituent pas une preuve de reconnaissance juridique. La juridiction étudiée est distincte du pays d’affiliation des auteurs.

Sources

OpenAlex · Document 1

• Document · https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.2152

Statut documentaire

Pertinence à examiner

Bibliothèque

Cette identité n’est pas encore intégrée à la Bibliothèque juridique.