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Fragmentation, Centralisation and Policy Learning: An Example from China’s Wind Industry

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  • Marius Korsnes

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand what government mechanisms have allowed China’s wind industry to grow as fast as it has over the past ten years. Instead of formal rules and regulations, this paper focuses on specific sets of institutional conditions that have been crucial in the process of high-speed implementation of wind energy in China. Specifically, fragmentation and centralisation, together with policy experimentation and policy learning, have been fundamental for policy flexibility and institutional adaptability. The paper illustrates that there are benefits and disadvantages to these characteristics, and that inherent qualities of China’s governing system that lead to rapid growth overlap with those that lead to challenges in terms of quality and long-term performance.

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  • Marius Korsnes, 2014. "Fragmentation, Centralisation and Policy Learning: An Example from China’s Wind Industry," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 43(3), pages 175-205.
    • Handle: RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:43:y:2014:i:3:p:175-205
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    Cited by:

    1. Mathias Lund Larsen, 2022. "Driving Global Convergence in Green Financial Policies: China as Policy Pioneer and the EU as Standard Setter," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(3), pages 358-370, June.
    2. Song, Feng & Yu, Zichao & Zhuang, Weiting & Lu, Ao, 2021. "The institutional logic of wind energy integration: What can China learn from the United States to reduce wind curtailment?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Korsnes, Marius, 2016. "Ambition and ambiguity: Expectations and imaginaries developing offshore wind in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 50-58.
    4. Thomas Poulsen & Charlotte Bay Hasager, 2017. "The (R)evolution of China: Offshore Wind Diffusion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-32, December.

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