Date: 12 April 2023 (Wednesday)  

Time: 20:00 – 21:00 (HKT)
Live via Zoom

Registration: Please click here 

Introduction: 

This book talk shows how the state can shape public perceptions and defuse crises through the theatrical deployment of language, symbols, and gestures of good governance―performative governance. It unpacks the black box of street-level bureaucracy in China and demonstrates how China’s environmental bureaucrats deal with intense public scrutiny over pollution when they lack the authority to actually improve the physical environment.

Speaker:

Dr. Iza Ding is Assistant Professor of Political Science with a courtesy appointment in Public Policy from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a scholar of comparative political development, with published works on environmental policymaking and implementation, environmental attitudes and behavior, bureaucratic organizations, populism, nationalism, democratic backsliding, and the rule of law.

Discussant:

Dr. Ying Xia is Assistant Professor from the University of Hong Kong, she received her S.J.D. from Harvard Law School. Her doctoral thesis examines the socio-legal implications of Chinese investment in African countries. During her study at Harvard, Ying was also awarded the Yong K. Kim ’95 Memorial Prize for her work on the connections between China’s environmental campaign and the international trade in waste. She also received an LL.M. in international law and an LL.B. from Peking University. Ying’s research interest includes environmental law, international law, and law and public policy, with a focus on experience from developing countries.

Chair:
Dr. Angela Zhang, Director of Philip K.H. Wong Centre for Chinese Law at the University of Hong Kong