多重合法性的交织:农村环境治理的用工模式选择

The Interweaving of Multiple Legitimacies:The Selection of Employment Models for Rural Environmental Governance

现阶段我国经济发达地区农村较为普遍采用服务外包的用工模式进行环境治理,而现有研究更多地认为这一做法受到效率逻辑的驱动,相对忽视了合法性逻辑的影响。通过对J县多个农村环境治理的案例研究发现,越来越多的农村开始采用“不完全外包”的农村环境治理用工模式,这一行为是在绩效合法性、行政合法性、社会合法性等多种合法性逻辑交织下发生的。研究发现:农村环境治理用工模式选择不仅要满足公民对环境治理绩效的期望,要考虑上级政府偏好与事故责任风险等行政因素,还要符合村庄的正义、公平、民主观念。这一观点突破了西方新公共管理理论的应用局限,为理解基层治理行为提供了合法性的解释框架,也为改善农村环境治理效果提供了有益启示。

In recent years,rural environmental governance has become increasingly important to promote rural revitalization.The employment model for rural environmental governance has gradually changed from traditional“government-led governance”or“villagers'self-governance”to“partial outsourcing”.Why has such a change occurred,and what factors have influenced the choice of an employment model for rural environmental governance?A number of studies discuss the various approaches to rural environmental governance.Some scholars argue that the shift from“government-led governance”or“villagers'self-governance”to“partial outsourcing”has primarily been driven by the logic of efficiency,but they generally neglect the influence of legitimacy.Environmental factors such as economic development,social norms,and cultural practices in rural areas may also influence rural environmental governance behavior.Based on this,we construct a legitimacy framework to understand the logic of choosing a rural environmental employment model by drawing on the prescription for legitimacy in public value theory.We argue that the legitimacy of rural environmental governance includes three dimensions:administrative legitimacy,social legitimacy,and performance legitimacy.Administrative legitimacy refers to the fact that the employment models of grassroots organizations must conform to the preferences and requirements of higher-level governments and they must be authorized and approved by the higher-level governments.Social legitimacy means that the environmental governance behavior of grassroots organizations must align with the value norms of village society,including the concepts of fairness,justice,and democracy.In addition,grassroots organizations must win the support and trust of the villagers.Performance legitimacy means that the employment models of grassroots organizations must meet the villagers􀆳expectations of the results of environmental governance.In other words,the effects of environmental governance should satisfy the villagers􀆳expectations and win their approval.This study adopts a multi-case study method to comparatively analyze environmental governance employment models in six villages in county J of province Z.The villages in county J have basically adopted three different environmental governance employment models:“villagers'self-management”“third-party management”and“partial outsour-cing”.But the“partial outsourcing”model is the only one that can simultaneously satisfy the needs of administrative legitimacy,social legitimacy,and performance legitimacy.Therefore,an increasing number of local villages are adopting the“partial outsourcing”model for environmental governance.In conclusion,the choice of an employment model for rural environmental governance is influenced by multiple legitimacies,such as administrative legitimacy,social legitimacy,and performance legitimacy.This study provides a legitimacy-based explanatory framework for understanding grassroots governance behavior and it offers valuable insights to improve the effectiveness of rural environmental governance.