BEYOND THE SPECTACLE? A COMPARATIVE CRITIQUE OF THE ‘GREEN CONSUMER’ IN GLOBAL AND CHINESE SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS by Scott Leatham March 2020 Supervisors: Professor Alasdair Blair Dr Zoe Pflaeger Young Dr Kathryn Jones Thesis submitted to De Montfort University through the Department of People, Politics, and Place in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 85,000 words excl. ancillary data Acknowledgements 感谢 This project would not have been possible without accruing a considerable debt of thanks to many, too numerous to name here. I would begin by thanking my partner, Jess, who has provided endless support, inspiration, and understanding. In a turbulent four years, my family, likewise, have been a constant support. I would also like to thank my supervisory team, Alasdair, Zoe, and Kathryn, whose patience has been surpassed only by their helpfulness. The Department of Politics, People and Place has provided a valuable and vibrant community of researchers and students, colleagues and comrades. I can offer no other endorsement than the nine enriching years I chose to spend there. Early ideas and concepts developed throughout this study benefited hugely from engagement with faculty and students, and particular thanks are due to Steven Griggs and Chris Goldsmith for these developments. I have been lucky to listen to and learn from incredible researchers whose works have shone lights in dark times. Early-career researchers and fellow PhD students have helped considerably in dispelling the inherent isolation of such projects. Without the fora provided by organisations such as the Political Studies Association, this work would have taken twice as long and ended up half as good. I also thank the staff and students of Liaoning University, and particularly Sun Wah International Business School. My studies were enriched by the lessons and experiences from time spent in Shenyang, and from experiences across China. 我还要感谢中国的朋友和陌生人。 With thanks, and in solidarity. Beyond the Spectacle? A Comparative Critique of the ‘Green Consumer’ in Global and Chinese Sustainability Transitions Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 6 List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................... 7 Note on Language ........................................................................................................ 9 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 10 1.1. The Spectacle: The Historical Moment and its Contradictions .............. 13 1.2. Sustainably Consuming or Consuming Sustainability? ......................... 20 1.3. China: (Re)Emergence and (Re)Articulation ............................................ 25 1.4. Research Agenda and Structure of the Thesis .......................................... 29 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................ 34 2.1. Critique and Political Ecology .................................................................... 38 2.2. Consumerism, Environmentalism, and Performativity .......................... 54 2.3. China, Hegemony, and Ecological Civilization ....................................... 62 2.4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 70 3. Theory and Methodology .............................................................................. 72 3.1. Discourse Theory .......................................................................................... 74 3.2. Ecogovernmentality and the Consumer Subject ...................................... 86 3.3. Discursive Post-Ecologism .......................................................................... 89 3.4. Methods: Discourse Theoretical Analysis in Practice ............................. 95 3.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 107 4. One-Dimensional Sustainability ............................................................... 109 4.1. Logics of sustainable consumerism ......................................................... 114 4.2. A global political ecology of the sustainable consumer subject .......... 138 4.3. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 147 5. Ecological Civilisation: Towards Multidimensional Sustainability? . 152 5.1. Policy Convergence .................................................................................... 155 5.2. Policy Divergence ....................................................................................... 162 5.3. Ecological Civilisation as Statist Discourse ............................................ 167 5.4. Conclusion: Towards Multidimensional Sustainability? ...................... 178 Scott Leatham Page 4 of 285 Beyond the Spectacle? A Comparative Critique of the ‘Green Consumer’ in Global and Chinese Sustainability Transitions 6. Ecological Civilisation as ‘Green Power’ .................................................. 183 6.1. Belt and Road Initiative ............................................................................. 187 6.2. Ecological civilisation embedded in the BRI .......................................... 190 6.3. Ecological Civilisation in Global Fora ..................................................... 200 6.4. ‘Green Power’ and Performative Sustainability .................................... 204 6.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................... 206 7. Conclusions: Beyond One-Dimensional Sustainability? ...................... 209 7.1. Performative Sustainability....................................................................... 212 7.2. Ecological Civilization Discourses: in Harmony or Inharmonious? ... 216 Annex I – Researcher Reflections .......................................................................... 223 Annex II – Corpora of closely analysed texts ...................................................... 229 Chapter 4 Corpus – Figures 10 and 11 .............................................................. 229 Chapter 5 Corpus – Figure 12 ............................................................................. 233 Chapter 6 Corpus – Figures 13 and 14 .............................................................. 236 Appendix A ............................................................................................................... 242 Appendix B ................................................................................................................ 245 Appendix C ................................................................................................................ 251 Appendix D ............................................................................................................... 253 Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 254 Scott Leatham Page 5 of 285 Beyond the Spectacle? A Comparative Critique of the ‘Green Consumer’ in Global and Chinese Sustainability Transitions Abstract This thesis presents the findings of a comparative analysis between the neoliberal sustainable development narrative and the fast-emerging Chinese ecological civilization narrative from a political ecological perspective. The contradictory role of the ‘sustainable consumer’ that the narratives employ is used to draw conclusions on the extent of convergence and divergence between the two potentially competing discourses. This allows for original contributions on how subjects are created and governed in discourses of sustainability transitions. As sustainable development increases its reach as a mode of governance, covering new spaces and even ‘future generations’, it brings into being new kinds of citizens: the ‘sustainable consumer’. This citizen type reconciles the contradictory demands on the citizen to be both a consumer and an environmentalist. Environmental citizens are thus incorporated into market architecture as ‘sustainable consumers’ to assume the role of the privileged agent of change whose political possibilities are limited. This paradox is analysed from a poststructuralist perspective, where the consumer subject performs the market-sanctioned role of sustainability while contributing to its ongoing depoliticization. The extension of market logics into the governance of crises, transition, and imagination is arguably challenged by a Chinese narrative that promotes a ‘different form of development’. Some have argued this offers ‘hope’ for a counter-narrative to the dominance of market logics. This thesis, however, shows such arguments are flawed in two ways. First, the treatment of ecological civilization as a singular discourse fails to account for the opposing articulations of it between domestic and international audiences. Second, the role of consumerism in absorbing care for the environment is fundamental to both ecological civilization and neoliberal sustainable development: neither discourse offers a different form of environmental citizenship beyond the consumer. Markets continue to mediate human-nature and socio-nature relations, with implications for considering China’s emergent role in global environmental