China's New Risk Environment and the Challenges of Institutional Response. Richard. P. Suttmeier, University of Oregon
The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 was marked by an implicit social contract between the Communist Party and the people of China to reduce the economic and environmental risks which had plagued the country for over a century. While it is now clear that it was not possible for the Party keep to this contract, during the course of some three decades, it did promote an ideology of "total insurance" which shaped popular attitudes towards risk. The initiation of market reforms in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, however, led to the gradual erosion and abandonment of this ideology, and to a new consciousness about risks among Chinese citizens. At the same time, reforms also have led to rapid industrial growth, the deployment of complex and demanding technologies, a rapidly worsening record of industrial and transportation safety, and very serious environmental degradation. The normal "risk transition" associated with rapid industrialization is thus accompanied by a profound institutional transition from an internationally isolated, socialist planned economy to a market economy with extensive ties to international society. This paper examines aspects of this post-reform experience with hazards and the efforts that have been made to develop risk management institutions, including new regulatory regimes, which are suitable to the operation of a market economy.