跨界环境协作治理如何提升环境绩效？：中国地方政府的实证研究

Most domestic researches on transboundary collaborative environmental governance were in normative-level. The normative research, however, implies a theoretical assumption that transboundary collaborative environmental governance is a good solution to transboundary environmental pollution, which leads us to ignore studying the effect of collaborative environmental governance. Nowadays, oversea public administration scholars begin to reflect on the effectiveness of collaborative environmental governance. Practical experience also found that collaborative environmental governance is not always successful. Based on theoretical and practical observations, a cognitive myth, whether and how transboundary collaborative environmental governance improves environmental performance, is bothering us. This project intends to conduct an empirical study on transboundary collaborative environmental governance of local governments in China. This project was designed to clarify the relationship between transboundary collaborative governance mechanisms, collaborative governance implementation, and environmental performance. We aim to open the “black box” of how transboundary collaborative environmental governance affects environmental performance. More specifically, we firstly use a theoretical framework and in-depth interviews to figure out the driving factors for local governments to select different collaborative environmental governance mechanisms and then test them using second-hand data. Secondly, we use natural experiment and quasi-experimental study to find out whether transboundary environmental collaborative governance can improve environmental performance. Thirdly, we use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the reason why transboundary collaborative environmental governance was implemented differently by local governments. Lastly, we use questionnaires and multivariate statistical analysis methods to reveal the impact path of transboundary collaborative environmental governance on environmental performance and its dependent conditions.

国内针对跨界环境协作治理研究多局限于规范层面。规范研究隐含一个理论预设，即跨界环境协作治理是解决跨界环境污染的“良方”，致使我们忽略环境协作治理效果研究。国外研究开始反思环境协作治理效用，实践经验也发现环境协作治理并不总能成功。在理论与经验之间，一个认知迷思困扰我们，即跨界环境协作治理能否提升以及如何提升环境绩效？本项目拟对中国地方政府的跨界环境协作治理进行实证研究。旨在通过厘清跨界环境协作治理机制、协作治理执行与环境绩效之间的关系，打开跨界环境协作治理影响环境绩效的“黑箱”。具体而言，运用理论框架与深度访谈凝练地方政府选择不同环境协作治理机制的动因，并对其进行假设检验；运用自然实验和准实验研究识别跨界环境协作治理能否提升环境绩效；运用质性比较分析和结构方程模型探究跨界环境协作治理政策执行差异的影响因素；运用问卷调查和多变量统计分析方法揭示跨界环境协作治理对环境绩效的影响路径及其依存条件。

作为跨界环境治理的一种政策工具，协作治理受到了学界广泛关注。但当前研究大多聚焦宏观层面的规范研究，缺乏对环境协作治理绩效的实证探讨，也缺乏对环境协作治理的中微观机制进行深入探索。本项目通过构建跨界环境协作治理数据库，地级市环境治理绩效面板数据库，地方主政官员数据库，跨界流域冲突治理案例库、河长制案例库等，开展理论和实证研究。研究将新制度主义理论、制度性集体行动框架引入环境协作治理绩效讨论，并构建了一个环境协作治理“行动—产出—效果”分析框架，识别了环境协作治理的作用机制、环境协作治理效能发挥的边界因素，进而采用定性比较分析、多元统计分析等方法评估了环境协作治理对环境绩效、环境可持续发展的影响情况，并据此提出了相应的政策建议。本项目研究主要得出以下结论：（1）不管是从环境污染排放视角还是从环境污染治理视角出发，跨界环境协作治理的确有助于提升环境绩效。（2）与西方国家不同，在中国情境下，上级权威介入，或称纵向干预，是理解中国环境协作治理行动的关键因素，其不仅是驱动协作的重要动因，也是影响协作绩效的重要变量。（3）相较于协议型环境协作治理机制而言，互动型环境协作治理机制在环境协作治理绩效改进上发挥更为直接的作用。（4）环境问题严重性是调节环境协作治理作用于环境绩效的重要变量。（5）与区域经济研究的经典发现不同，大城市或者中心城市的“虹吸效应”在环境协作治理领域并不存在。相反，资源禀赋欠缺的城市反而能在环境协作治理中受益更多。