The hidden mechanism under the policies: governance logic and network of the collaborative governance of air pollution control in the CCEC, China

This paper analyzed 632 cross-regional collaborative air governance policy texts from 2000 to 2021, summarizing the collaborative governance model of air pollution in the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle (CCEC). The study employed co-word clustering and social network analysis with the help of Nvivo12 and Gephi to analyze both the external and internal attributes of policy texts policies. These two methods, quantitative and qualitative, are employed in combination to address the inherent limitations of each. This approach allows for a more comprehensive and in-depth study, resulting in stronger and more robust results. We found that: (1) Policy texts embody the “Five Development Concepts” and adopt the principle of adapting measures to local conditions when using policy tools; (2) The interaction frequency among the four major engines in the governance mechanism exceeds 50% of the total interaction frequency within the governance network. The governance structure exhibits characteristics of a pyramid shape, with dominance by specialized and high-level units; (3) Apart from fluctuations in the average weighted degree and network density, all other indicators are increasing. This indicates that the governance network in CCEC is gradually expanding without sacrificing network density. In the process of governance network expansion in the CCEC, there is a pattern of initially increasing the network's scale and subsequently consolidating and improving network density. Building on these findings, this article summarizes the governance characteristics of the CCEC and proposes a set of Chinese solutions that balance economic development and ecological protection, along with policy recommendations that have strong reference significance for many underdeveloped and developing inland regions.