Governing Food Safety in China

This book analyzes China's food safety co-governance with Chinese characteristics through the Asymmetric Party-State-Society (PSS) Triangle Structure, combining theoretical analysis with 67 interviews conducted between 2018 and 2024. It traces how this framework took shape and matured from the 2008 melamine scandal to the present. The framework positions the Communist Party at the apex, providing strategic direction; the government at the base, translating directives into enforceable standards and enforcement; and society at the pivot, participating within state-defined boundaries. It develops the concept of structured asymmetry, demonstrating how hierarchical authority and functional collaboration can coexist. This challenges the assumption in Western collaborative governance theory that effective governance requires dispersed power and voluntary participation. It places China alongside the United States and the European Union, assesses the strengths and limitations of each model, and examines China's growing influence in international standard-setting bodies, including the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The book further considers the future of PSS co-governance as digital technologies and global supply chain pressures reshape the institutional boundaries of the triangle structure. The book will appeal to scholars and practitioners working in food safety law and policy, Chinese politics and governance, comparative public administration, and regulatory theory.

Yi Lu (J.S.D., Yale Law School) is Senior Lecturer at Peking University School of Transnational Law and Research Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She is a Legal Specialist (Development Law) on the FAO Consultancy Roster. Her research focuses on food law and comparative governance.

PART I THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND FRAMEWORK CONSTRUCTION 1 Theoretical Lineage of Collaborative Governance 2 Institutional Genes of Collaborative Governance in China 3 The Asymmetric Party-State-Society Triangle: A Model of Chinese Collaborative Governance PART II THE TRIANGLE STRUCTURE IN ACTION: APEX, BASE, AND PIVOT 4 Apex Control: Dual Transmission of the Party in Food Safety Governance 5 Base Dominance: State's Rigid Control in Food Safety 6 Pivot Dependence: The Limited Role of Society in Food Safety Oversight PART III COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND GOVERNANCE EFFECTIVENESS 7 The Parallel Structure: Collaborative Food Safety Governance in Western Democracies 8 Institutional Origins: Path Dependence and the Logic of Divergence 9 China and the West: Assessing Collaborative Governance Effectiveness PART IV THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE TRAJECTORIES 10 Theoretical Contributions of the Triangle Structure 11 Globalization and Challenges of Transnational Governance 12 The Future of Collaborative Governance with Chinese Characteristics