with Coraline Goron, PhD, Duke Kunshan University and Virginie Arantes (Chine CoREF)

in collaboration with Chine CoREF / CECMC (EHESS) / GIS Asie

This hybrid conference will explore the role of social media in China’s local environmental activism. Coraline Goron will discuss how activists use public platforms like Weibo and WeChat to navigate state control, avoid cooptation, and mobilize support for environmental causes.

China’s Environmental NGOs have been described as “embedded” due to their structural dependence on the state. While some studies highlight the increasing cooptation pressure imposed by the current administration, others point to their ability to maintain a degree of autonomy.

This study investigates how NGO activists utilize public social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat to overcome local institutional barriers and repression. Based on in-depth interviews with 13 NGOs/activists and an analysis of social media posts concerning 53 cases between 2014 and 2022, this research identifies patterns in activists' decisions to go public. The findings reveal that social media is leveraged when institutional and private channels are insufficient, or when activists face direct threats. While embedded in the local party-state system, social media provides a limited yet strategic space for maneuvering within China’s environmental governance.

Coraline Goron is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke Kunshan University. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Warwick and ULB under the Erasmus Mundus GEM program. Her research focuses on China’s environmental politics, regulatory transformations, and the intersection of state power, activism, and information disclosure.

Tuesday, 11 March 2025, from 10 AM to 12 PM

Campus Condorcet – Centre de colloques
Salle 3.05
44 Rue des Gardinoux,
93300 Aubervilliers, France

Online participation available – registration required for connection link.

Please register here