Policy Network Analysis Of Xiamen PX Event

Xiamen PX event is a mass incident caused by environmental problems. From project propose to project relocation, argument about Xiamen Haicang PX Project lasted for nearly7years. The dispute involved the central government and local government departments, professionals and ordinary citizens, the mass media and environmental groups. In the process of interaction, actors acted around the economic interests, environmental protection and social stability.This article will use policy network theory to analyze the interaction relations among the actors, networks and policy results involved in the Xiamen PX event actors, to explore the mechanism and coping strategies of environment mass incidents. Firstly, this research will use Rhodes’theory of policy network typology to classify the actors in the Xiamen PX event, to identify the policy community, intergovernmental network, professionalized network, producer network and issue network, and then study the interaction of the networks. With Marsh and Smith’s dialectical theory, this research will analyze the Xiamen PX event from relations among the context, networks, actors and the results of the policy.This research has found that issue network in environmental mass incidents owns numerous members, professionalized network is easy to differentiate, producer network’s force is smaller, while policy community and intergovemmental tend to bet on economic interests and ignore the environmental demands of people. In order to prevent and deal with environmental mass event, policy community and intergovernmental network should emphasize the propaganda work and win the support from professionals, media and people. Before the mass event, government should realize that the actors in issue network may have prepared for the mass event; government should deal with the possible danger properly. After the mass event, government and people should work together to have a win-win result. If the citizens want to influence government policy, they should be well organized and have more supporters. Proper acting time and skillful use of current political context will increase the chance of success.