The SCRC is hosting Professor Iza Ding, Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, for an in-person discussion of her new book, The Performative State: Public Scrutiny and Environmental Governance in China (Cornell Press, 2022) in conversation with Prof. Andrew Mertha, Director of the SAIS China Research Center. In this book, Prof. Iza Ding utilizes interviews, public opinion surveys, and ethnographic participation to detail street-level bureaucracy and the public scrutiny bureaucrats face about pollution that is outside of their control. She discusses performative governance and the bureaucratic paradox of working hard without the authority to implement environmental policies. This book explores governing without impressing an audience, with a focus on Chinese evidence to prove her theory about state engagement in performative governance.
