This podcast explores how aspects of national culture may shape the design and implementation of public policy. China's energy policies display a combination of pragmatism, incrementalism, internal contradiction and ambiguity. This is consistent with evidence from experimental psychology and history that the development of Chinese and East Asian cognitive styles has taken a path distinct from those of Western civilisations with their Greek philosophical heritage. Policy implementation also bears features from imperial times in the political culture of China's Communist Party and the contemporary legal system. The podcast draws on a recent paper published in The Energy Journal: How May National Culture Shape Public Policy? The Case of Energy Policy in China.
About Philip Andrews-Speed
Philip Andrews-Speed is a Senior Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore. He has 40 years in the field of energy and resources, starting his career as a mineral and oil exploration geologist before moving into the field of energy and resource governance. His main research interest has been the political economy of the low-carbon energy transition, with a focus on China.