Decentred Deterrence and the Effects of Social Relations: Explaining Pesticide Regulatory Compliance in China
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0964663920914072 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Decentred Deterrence
and the Effects of Social
Relations: Explaining
Pesticide Regulatory
Compliance in China
Huiqi Yan and Juan Li
Central South University, China
Abstract
While many have observed the importance of state regulators to the implementation of
law, multiple decentralized regulators are crucial for achieving deterrence and com-
pliance. Informed by the deterrence literature, this study conducts in-depth interviews
with 150 Chinese farmers and experts and studies how regulated actors perceive
detection possibility and sanction impact and how such perceptions shape compliance.
The study finds that farmers perceive considerable deterrence risks from multiple
actors, helping to explain their pesticide compliance. The study further finds that such
perceived threats are linked to social relations or guanxi between farmers and multiple
regulators, which are built on frequency of contact, mutual trust and personalized
networks among the actors involved. Social relations or guanxi could help to predict
sources of deterrent threats and the degree of tolerance for potentially violent actions.
Deterrence and regulatory compliance are frequently enhanced when there are close
relations between the regulated and regulators. Policymakers and practitioners might
want to create a risk environment by first deliberating the relations between polycentric
regulation and the generally authoritarian nature of the Chinese state, understanding the
regulatory logic of social relations, and then by determining the relevant third parties and
formulating policy incentives for utilizing such threats.
Keywords
Chinese vegetable farmers, compliance, deterrence, pesticide, regulation, social relations
Corresponding author:
Huiqi Yan, School of Public Administration, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
Email: miracleyhq@163.com
Social & Legal Studies
2020, Vol. 29(6) 881–902
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663920914072
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Introduction
Regulatory scholars have been increasin gly studying ‘decentring regulation’ (Blac k,
2001), ‘regulatory pluralism’ (Gunningham and Sinclair, 1999), non-st ate regulation
(Grabosky, 2013) and self-regulation (Ayres and Braithwaite, 1994; Black, 2001), rather
than taking the traditional approach of scrutinizing ‘state regulation’ or ‘new state
regulation’ (Braithwaite, 2000). Scholars in this research stream have identified a broad
range of state and non-state actors (e.g. market, associations or community) and the
possible configurations they adopt to achieve policy goals. For instance, researchers
have explored the impact of ‘third-party’ regulators from the perspectives of the regu-
lated (Gunningham et al., 1998; Hutter, 2006; Nielsen and Parker, 2008; Van Rooij,
2015). Such studies have gone beyond the general understanding that regulated actors
are deterred only by enforcement agencies.
Following this promising line of research, the existing deterrence literature has cov-
ered a broad range of fields. Inspired by the classical deterrence doctrine, many studies
have focused on detection probability and sanction severity towards non-compliance
(e.g. Greenberg, 1981; Nagin and Paternoster, 1991; Thornton et al., 2005). They turned
to the so-called ‘subjective utility approach’ to explore the multiple regulatory actors
involved, as well as their influences in shaping complian ce from the perspective of
regulated actors.
However, the case remains that the non-state regulatory de terrence literature has
predominantly developed in the West (e.g. Hutter, 2006; Nielsen and Parker, 2008),
while explorations of decentralized deterrence studies in the non-Western context have
been rare. Thus, the global relevance of the present de centralized deterrence theory
requires further confirmation.
More than ever before, China’s remarkable performance is affecting the global econ-
omy, the environment, politics and human welfare in general. A better understanding of
deterrence issues in China is therefore important for broadening the extant regulatory
deterrence literature. More importantly, China offers a unique opportunity to the liter-
ature for studying decentred or non-state forms of regulatory deterrence because, in the
Chinese party-state system, there is a remarkably resilient form of authoritarian rule
(Nathan, 2003). In this context, while, on the one hand, the regulatory failure of gov-
ernment agencies creates some possible space for new and non-state actors entering into
the environmental regulatory landscape, on the other, entry is restricted by different
levels of Chinese officials. In the Chinese environmental regulatory context, regulatory
pluralism has an authoritarian logic (Van Rooij et al., 2016) and, thus, the current study
contributes to the literature through an examination of the relationship between poly-
centric regulation and the generally authoritarian nature of the Chinese state.
Moreover, few recent studies have looked in depth at the extent to which the actors
involved interact with one another and, especially, the extent to which such interaction
could influence the implementation of law. Here, the use of the concept of relational
distance offers a potential option for shedding light on issues such as contact frequency,
the intensity and length of relationships, and the nature of the connecting bonds among
relevant parties involved in social control (Horwitz, 1990). The concept of guanxi, or
social relations, could also be relevant, considering the central idea of social networks in
882 Social & Legal Studies 29(6)
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