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The Emergence of Collaborative Environmental Governance in Taiwan: A Changing Landscape of Environmental Politics Yi-Jen Shie Department of Geography University College London Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. July, 2012 1 ‘I, Yi-Jen Shie, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis.' 2 ABSTRACT This thesis is inspired by the newly emergent phenomenon of participatory environmental management that has mushroomed in the post-authoritarian political climate in Taiwan. The phenomenon challenges the existing literature on the systems of government in East Asia, in which the state largely monopolises the policy process, even suggesting that the western experience of a shift from government to governance can be seen to be occurring, at least in the environmental sphere. To examine these issues, the thesis reviews three case studies of collaborative environmental governance in the Kaoping River basin seeking to assess whether they have resulted in a meaningful and sustained move towards local environmental democratisation. Both intensive and extensive methods have been used to collect empirical evidence. The former employed in-depth interviews with fifty-three key actors and the latter an extensive examination of reports in local newspapers. More than 2000 news-cuttings, dating from the 1960s to 2010, were examined. The three selected case studies were differentiated according to whom initiated a collaborative approach to environmental governance. Two were endogenous programmes (initiated by citizens) and one an exogenous project (initiated by government officials). The three studies reveal quite different political and managerial processes, levels and kinds of available resources, and sustainability over the long term. The key element in successful collaborative governance is provided by the spontaneous and continuous commitment of local citizens. But whilst the most disadvantaged groups of citizens are able to play active roles in preventing environmental degradation, the state-society partnership is rarely one of equal and mutual benefit, not least because of the reliance of environmental groups on government resources for the expansion and maintenance of their governance activities. More specifically, local political competition between factions can be fatal to collaborative activities, revealing the crucial importance of community consensus before launching such initiatives. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Having the opportunity of doing a PhD is a ‘once in a life’ adventure, which demands both intellectual and physical strength. Most students experience the syndrome of ‘PhD Blues’, and I should not possibly have survived this process without the guidance and support of the following people. The first person is my principal supervisor Professor Richard Munton. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Richard. He has always provided constructive guidance, comments and feedback to my research. From him I constantly received inspiration, insights and creativeness. Moreover, he continued to support my study after he retired in September 2006. My thanks are also due to Dr. Ben Page, who agreed to be my subsidiary supervisor during the last year of my PhD, providing critical and valuable comments on my writing and arguments. I am indebted to my darling husband, Lung-yung Tseng, who has accepted the truth that I am an unqualified ‘wife’ who has always been pursuing things other than he expected, and that were not in his life plans. However, he has continually born my complaints, shared my happiness and helped relieve my sorrow. Also, I am fortunate to have a wonderful mother-in-law who has always been there for me, ever reminding my husband of his much-needed support. During my PhD Blues, Shih-yao Lai and Chia-hua Yeh, my dearest friends in London have always been there for me and forever uplifting me through difficult times. I am very grateful for those who agreed to be interviewed in this research, sharing their valuable time and opinions. Talking to, and recording, these people who were creating history made my fieldwork a real adventure and an intellectual inspiration. The final thanks are reserved for my parents, who are unfortunately no longer able to share my joy of completing the PhD. They never agreed to my career decisions and never understood my devotion to environmental activism and academia, but they were always remained proud of me. With the deepest sincerity, I dedicate this thesis to them. 4 CONTENTS ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 CONTENTS 5 LIST OF FIGURES 8 LIST OF TABLES 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 10 1.1 Research Context 10 1.2 Potential Contribution 13 1.3 Research Aims 14 1.4 Research Arguments 15 1.5 Research Methods 17 1.6 Brief Thesis Outline 18 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 19 2.1 Introduction 19 2.2 Western Notions of Collaborative Governance 19 2.2.1 The Emergence of Collaborative Governance 19 2.2.1.1 Basic Approaches to Collaborative Governance: Exogenous and Endogenous 24 2.2.1.2 Civil Actors in Collaborative Governance 27 2.2.1.3 The State Actor in Collaborative Governance 30 2.2.2 Conducting Collaborative Governance 31 2.2.2.1 Benefits and Opportunities of Collaborative Governance 32 2.2.2.2 Risks of Collaborative Governance 34 2.2.2.3 Ansell and Gash’s Model of Collaborative Governance 36 2.2.3 Practising Collaborative Governance over Environmental Issues 42 2.3 Collaborative Governance in East Asia 47 2.3.1 Examples of Environmental Collaboration in Developing Countries 47 2.3.2 State-Society Relationships in East Asia 49 2.3.3 The Emergence of Social Mobilisation and Civil Society 54 2.4 Conclusion: Establishing an Analytical Model of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 58 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 64 3.1. Methodological Challenge: Exploring the Underlying Mechanism of the Emergence of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 64 3.2. Critical Realism: The Philosophy Underpinning this Research 65 3.2.1. The Ontology of Critical Realism: Structure, Mechanism and Causal Power 66 3.2.2. The Epistemology of Critical Realism 68 3.2.3. Retroduction and its Methodological Implications 68 3.2.4. Case Study Approach: Multi-Method and Multi-Site 71 3.3. Justifying the Selection of Field Site 72 3.4. The Kaoping River Case 74 3.5. Acknowledging My Positionality: As a Local and an Activist 80 5 3.5.1. As a Local 81 3.5.2. As an Activist 82 3.6. Research Process: Data Collection, Data Processing, Analysis, and Reporting 83 3.6.1. Data collection 85 3.6.1.1 News-archive survey 86 3.6.1.2 In-depth interviews 90 3.6.1.3 Observation 92 3.6.2. Data processing and analysis 94 3.7. Ethical dimensions 95 3.8. Conclusion 96 CHAPTER 4 CONTEXT 108 4.1 The Soft Authoritarian State in Transition 108 4.2 Three Phases of Taiwan’s Environmental Governance 108 4.2.1 Phase one: Authoritarian rule, economic boom and environmental deterioration 108 4.2.2 Phase two: The upsurge of civil environmental protests in Taiwan 109 4.2.3 Phase three: From confrontation to cooperation 112 4.3 The Kaoping River Basin and its Governance 114 4.3.1 Governing body 114 4.3.2 Geographic features 115 4.4 Three Collaborative Actions in the Kaoping River Basin: Water Defence, Riverfront Adoption and River Enclosure 119 4.4.1 Water Defence 119 4.4.2 Riverfront Adoption 124 4.4.3 River Enclosure 127 4.5 Conclusion 134 CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDIES: RIVER ENCLOSURE 135 5.1 Introduction 135 5.2 Examples of River Enclosure 135 5.3 Findings 145 5.3.1. The Reason Motivating the Emergence of Environmental Collaborative Governance 145 5.3.2. The Endogenous Approach of Initiating Environmental Collaborative Governance and its Results 149 5.3.3. The Long-Term Development of Environmental Collaborative Governance and its Institutionalisation 156 5.3.4. The Transformative Capability and Constraints of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 162 5.3.5. State-Society Relationship in Transition 169 5.4 Conclusion: Re-thinking the Model of Environmental Collaborative Governance 171 CHAPTER 6 CASE STUDIES: WATER DEFENCE 175 6.1 Introduction 175 6.2 Example Organisations of Water Defence 176 6.3 Findings 182 6 6.3.1 The Reason Motivating the Emergence of Environmental Collaborative Governance 182 6.3.2 The Endogenous Approach of Initiating Environmental Collaborative Governance and its Results 189 6.3.3 The Long-term development and Institutionalisation of Environmental Collaborative Governance 195 6.3.4 The Transformative Capability and Constraints of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 199 6.3.5 State-Society Relationship in Transition 203 6.3.6 Return to the Local 214 6.4 Conclusion: Re-thinking the Model of Environmental Collaborative Governance 217 CHAPTER 7 CASE STUDY: RIVERFRONT ADOPTION 221 7.1 Introduction 221 7.2 Examples 221 7.3 Findings 226 7.3.1 The Reason Motivating the Emergence of Environmental Collaborative Governance 226 7.3.2 The Exogenous Approach of Initiating Environmental Collaborative Governance and its Results 230 7.3.3 The Long-term development and Institutionalisation of Environmental Collaborative Governance 233 7.3.4 The Transformative Capability and Limitations of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 237 7.3.5 State-Society Relationship in Transition 241 7.4 Conclusion: Re-thinking the Model of Environmental Collaborative Governance in Taiwan 242 CHAPTER 8 DISCUSSION 246 8.1 Governance in Theory 247 8.2 Underlying Mechanisms in the Rise of Collaborative