The Politics of China's "Green GDP"

Abstract

This article analyses the politics of the Chinese green GDP project and its recent deadlock. In order to gain a more thorough understanding of the political backdrop of the project, the local politics behind the Chinese environmental crisis have been taken as the analytical focus of this paper. Drawing on recent research, it is argued that local cover-ups of frequently illegal environmental exploitation - which is commonly made responsible for China’s environmental problems - are largely induced by the structure of the Party-state. This leads to the conclusion that the causal reason for the deadlock in the green GDP is not, as is often reported, resistance from local leaders, but rather the lack of support from the very top level on the eve of the 17th Party Congress due to the green GDP’s heavy political baggage.