环境治理的公共价值建构:基于两个最相似案例的比较

Construction of public values in environmental governance:a comparative study of two most⁃similar cases in China

环境治理是一个兼具全球性公共叙事和鲜明本土化特征的重要议题。该研究采取公共价值理论框架,扎根于新时代中国环境治理的现实场景,进行了环境治理公共价值建构的理论探讨和实证研究。理论框架表明:①环境治理的关键在于公共价值建构。②中国环境治理的公共价值建构存在着地方政府自主建构和中央政府权威建构的双重逻辑。③建构逻辑和路径取决于“战略三角”,即权威环境、价值目标和运作能力的最大匹配程度。进一步地,对G市开发区和S市工业园区的两个最相似典型案例进行比较分析,为理论命题提供了经验证据:①两个案例面临着相似的背景,却发展出不同的公共价值建构路径。②G市开发区事件前期,由于地方政府、企业和居民之间冲突严重,三方未能形成共识,导致公共价值失灵;后期由于中央生态环境保护督察的介入,在地方政府、企业和居民之间达成教化式共识,实现了公共价值的自上而下建构。③S市开发区在冲突可控的前提下,地方政府、企业和居民自主建构了环境治理的公共价值。④在地方建构公共价值失灵时,中央政府并非简单取而代之,而是通过制度变革和机制创新,改变地方政府的激励结构和价值取向,实现公共价值的自上而下创造。该研究的政策意涵是把公共价值带回环境治理,建立以公共价值为导向的环境治理绩效体系,实现以多元参与、良性互动为主要特征的现代环境治理模式。

Environmental governance is an important issue in global public narratives and of salient local features.Using the theoretical framework of public values and based on the context of China in a new era,this paper conducts a systematic theoretical exploration and empirical analysis of environmental governance.The paper theoretically proposes that:①The key to successful environmental governance lies in public value construction.②China has two distinct ways to construct public values:one is done by local governments autonomously,and the other is completed by the central government in a top-down way.③The ultimate path of creating public values depends on the strategic triangle,that is,the combination of authorizing environment,strategic goals,and operational capability.To test the above arguments,this paper adopted the most-similar cases analysis approach and made a comparison between two most-similar cases in China,namely between City G in South China and City S in Central China.The empirical results positively supported the above propositions:①Both cases had similar backgrounds but developed two distinct ways of public value creation.②Before the intervention of Central Environmental Inspection(CEI),City G failed to create public values in environmental governance,due to the fierce conflicts among the local government,firms,and residents.However,the intervention of CEI fundamentally changed the arena and managed to create public values among the stakeholders by means of building a kind of indoctrination-oriented consensus.③As for the case of City S,a kind of public value was successfully created by the joint efforts of the local government,firms,and residents.④When local governments failed to create public values,the central government did not simply take their place and do it directly.Instead,it tried to change the incentive structure and value orientation of local governments by introducing a series of institutional innovations,which in turn led to a successful creation of public values at the local level.This paper’s policy implications are to bring back public values and integrate them into environmental governance,build up a public value-oriented performance management system,and construct a mode of environmental governance with multiple-actor participation and interaction.