Governing Food Safety in China

A Party-State-Society Triangle Model
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-32546-8
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 220 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: China Perspectives

This book analyzes China’s food safety co-governance with Chinese characteristics through the Asymmetric Party-State-Society (PSS) Triangle Structure, combining theoretical analysis with sixty-seven interviews conducted between 2018 and 2024. It traces how this framework took shape and matured from the 2008 melamine scandal to the present.

The framework positions the Communist Party at the apex, providing strategic direction; the government at the base, translating directives into enforceable standards and enforcement; and society at the pivot, participating within state-defined boundaries. It develops the concept of structured asymmetry, demonstrating how hierarchical authority and functional collaboration can coexist. This challenges the assumption in Western collaborative governance theory that effective governance requires dispersed power and voluntary participation. It places China alongside the United States and the European Union, assesses the strengths and limitations of each model, and examines China’s growing influence in international standard-setting bodies, including the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The book further considers the future of PSS co-governance as digital technologies and global supply chain pressures reshape the institutional boundaries of the triangle structure.

The book will appeal to scholars and practitioners working in food safety law and policy, Chinese politics and governance, comparative public administration, and regulatory theory.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lu, Yi

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Indigene Völker
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Innen-, Bildungs- und Bevölkerungspolitik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PART I THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND FRAMEWORK CONSTRUCTION  1 Theoretical Lineage of Collaborative Governance 2 Institutional Genes of Collaborative Governance in China 3 The Asymmetric Party-State-Society Triangle: A Model of Chinese Collaborative Governance  PART II THE TRIANGLE STRUCTURE IN ACTION: APEX, BASE, AND PIVOT 4 Apex Control: Dual Transmission of the Party in Food Safety Governance 5 Base Dominance: State’s Rigid Control in Food Safety 6 Pivot Dependence: The Limited Role of Society in Food Safety Oversight  PART III COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND GOVERNANCE EFFECTIVENESS  7 The Parallel Structure: Collaborative Food Safety Governance in Western Democracies 8 Institutional Origins: Path Dependence and the Logic of Divergence 9 China and the West: Assessing Collaborative Governance Effectiveness  PART IV THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE TRAJECTORIES  10 Theoretical Contributions of the Triangle Structure 11 Globalization and Challenges of Transnational Governance 12 The Future of Collaborative Governance with Chinese Characteristics

Über Autor(innen)

Yi Lu (J.S.D., Yale Law School) is Senior Lecturer at School of Transnational Law, Peking University, and Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. Her research focuses on food law.