A study on the marine pollution response institutions in China from the perspecitive of new institutionalism

Abstract

Based on the basic ideas of sustainable development and the importance of marine environmental protection, this study analyzes the current states of China's marine environmental protection response institution from the perspective of the IAD framework. The analysis results show that the enthusiasm of participants (government, public and polluters) in China's marine environmental response institution needs to be improved, while the driving force for polluters to increase anti-pollution equipment is not strong. The members of local government have not been fully mobilized yet. On top of that, the work links among government departments are cumbersome and the public are lack of effective channels to participate in government affairs. In addition, this study also finds that there are problems in the coordination of participants. Such coordination issues do not only exist within the government itself, but also between the government and polluters in pollution accidents, as well as between the government and the public. At the end of the study, based on the 7 rules of IAD framework， this study puts forward 4 suggestions for improvement in China's current marine environmental response institution. Particularly, this study suggests to improve the entry and exit mechanisms of participants in the boundary rules; to mobilize participants' enthusiasm in a variety of ways; to improve the legal system related to oil spills; and to improve the regulatory links through aggregation rules.