Ecological modernization in East and Southeast Asian
high performance economies

A research proposal in the framework of the
International Human Dimensions Programme on Industrial Transformation

Draft, February 2, 1999

Summary

This research program investigates social dynamics of environment-informed industrial transformation in high performance economies in East and Southeast Asia. In evaluating the main conditions, factors and actors that encourage industrial reforms to develop into sustainable industrial practices in different countries, this program aims to contribute to both the understanding of such transformations as well as the design of stimulating (governmental and non-governmental) policies and strategies that might further trigger environmental reforms. In doing so, this program takes ecological modernization theory as a rather loose theoretical framework for investigating the relevant relations between industry and state, between industries and various representative organizations from ‘civil society’ and the relations within the (industrial) economy, both from a national and global perspective.

1. Collaborating institutions

Department of Environmental Sociology, Wageningen University (coordinating institution)
Contact person: Dr.ir. Arthur P.J. Mol
Hollandseweg 1
6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 317 482495/484452
Fax: +31 317 483990
E-mail: tuur.mol@alg.swg.wau.nl
 
CENTEMA, Van Lang University
Contact person: Dr. Nguyen Trung Viet, Director
C4/5-6 Dinh Bo Linh Street, Binh Thanh District
HoChiMinh City, Vietnam
Tel: +84 8 8981 504
Fax: +84 8 8981 505
E-mail: Centema@netnam2.org.vn
 
Department of Systems Ecology, Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Contact person: Prof.dr. Wang Rusong
19 Zhongguancun Road
Beijing 10080, China
Tel: +86 10 6256 1872
Fax: +86 10 6256 2775
E-mail: wangrs@sun.ihep.ac.cn
 
Department of Sociology, Washington State University
Contact person: Dr. David Sonnenfeld
2710 University Drive
Richland, WA 99352
USA
Tel: +1 509 372 7273
Fax: +1 509 372 7100
E-mail: sonn@wsu.edu
 
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Chiang Mai University
Contact person: Dr. Montri Kunphoommarl
Faculty of Social Sciences
Chiang Mai 50200
Thailand
Tel: +66 53 943567, 943575
Fax: ['+66 53 892209
E-mail: sosni003@chiangmai.ac.th
 
Faculty of Economics and Business
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
Contact person: Prof. Dr. Rajah Rasiah
Kota Samarahan, Sarawak
Malaysia 94300
Tel: +60 82 671792
Fax: +60 82 671794
E-mail: rrajah@feb.unimas.my

2. Central objectives

The central objectives of this research program on ecological modernization in East and Southeast Asian high performance economies are threefold:

  1. Investigate social dynamics of environment-induced industrial restructuring in East and Southeast Asian high performance economies;
  2. Assess the value of ecological modernization models developed and first applied in OECD countries for analyzing industrial restructuring processes in East and Southeast Asian high performance economies; and
  3. Develop (policy) recommendations for accelerating industrial transformations in environmentally sound directions.

3. Research framework: ecological modernization

From the beginning of the 1980s onwards, ecological modernization theory has been developed primarily in a small group of West-European countries, most notably Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Among the various contributions to ecological modernization theory there is considerable diversity, not only by national background and theoretical foundations, but also throughout the relatively short period ecological modernization theory exists. These theoretical traditions range from system theoretical analyses, via more institutional frameworks and actor perspectives, to discourse analyses.

An extensive analysis and overview of ecological modernization literature up to now is given, among others, by Mol and Spaargaren (forthcoming) and Spaargaren, Mol and Buttel (1999). Notwithstanding these geographical, temporal and theoretical differences, one can still gather all these contributions together under the notion of ecological modernization theory, as they have as common denominators (i) that environmental deteriorations are conceived of as challenges for socio-technological and economic reforms rather than interpreted as inevitable consequences of the current institutional structure, and (ii) the emphasis on actual and necessary transformations of modern institutions for environmental reform, such as science and technology, the nation-state and global politics, and the (global) market. Before turning our attention to the concrete projects in industrial transformation that make up this program, we will first elaborate theoretically on ecological modernization theory and its applicability to high performance economies in East and Southeast Asia.

Ecological modernization theory in industrialized countries

Ecological modernization theory has been used to provide a framework to analyze the way contemporary industrialized countries deal with the environmental crisis. Empirical studies showed that from the mid 1980s onwards in countries such as Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the USA, Sweden and Denmark, a break was identified in the tendency of parallel economic growth with increased environmental disruption. A process referred to as decoupling or delinking of material flows from economic flows emerged. In a number of cases (countries and/or specific industrial sectors and/or specific environmental issues), environmental reform even results in an absolute decline of emissions and natural resources used, regardless of economic growth in financial or material terms. Although these material flow transformations are essential backgrounds for ecological modernization theory, they do not form the theory’s core interest and focus.

Ecological modernization theory hypothesizes that behind these changes of existing tendencies in environmental disruptions and material flows in West-European countries the following institutional transformations can be identified:

  1. The changing role of science and technology in environmental deterioration and reform; first, science and technology are not only judged to be involved in the emergence of environmental problems but also valued for their actual and potential role in curing and preventing them; second, traditional curative and repair options are replaced by more preventive socio-technological approaches that incorporate environmental considerations from the design stage of technological and organizational innovations; finally, the growing uncertainty of scientific and expert knowledge on definitions, causes and solutions for environmental problems does not result in a marginalization of science and technology in environmental reform.
  2. An increasing importance of economic and market dynamics and economic agents (such as producers, customers, consumers, credit institutions, insurance companies etc.) as social carriers of ecological restructuring and reform (in addition to state agencies and the new social movement);
  3. Various transformations regarding the traditional central role of the nation-state in environmental reform; first, more decentralized, flexible and consensual styles of national governance with less top-down hierarchic command-and-control regulation emerge (often referred to as political modernization); second, more opportunities for non-state actors to take over traditional tasks of the nation-state (privatization, but also conflict-resolution without state interference, often referred to as subpolitics); finally, an emerging role for supra-national institutions that undermine to some extent the traditional role of the nation-state in environmental reform;
  4. Changing discursive practices and emerging new ideologies in political and societal arenas, where both the fundamental counterpositioning of economic and environmental interests as well as a complete neglect of the importance of environmental considerations, are no longer accepted as legitimate positions. Intergenerational solidarity in dealing with the sustenance base seems to have emerged as the undisputed core principle; and
  5. A modification of the position, role and ideology of social movements (vis-a-vis the 1970s and 1980s) in the process of ecological transformation. Environmental NGOs enter into the participation in direct negotiations with state representatives and economic agents, and contribute to the development of concrete proposals for environmental reform.

It is these kinds of emerging institutional transformations that are regularly studied from an ecological modernization perspective in Western industrialized countries. In so doing, ecological modernization theory profits from and tries to ‘integrate’ distinct bodies of academic knowledge, including theories on industrial ecology and industrial metabolism; theories on socio-technological change; perspectives on changing state regulation styles and strategies regarding the environment; new social movement theories; and contributions from institutional economics.

Ecological modernization theory in industrializing economies

As stated above, ecological modernization theory has been developed in the context of West-European industrialized societies. The socio-political, economic and cultural conditions in this geographical area have played an important role as the empirical foundation on which this theory has been developed. At earlier occasions, in analyzing the value of ecological modernization for developing regions, we identified some institutional characteristics essential for such transformation processes in Europe (Mol, 1995). Among them are a democratic and open political system; a legitimate and interventionist state with an advanced and differentiated socio-environmental infrastructure; widespread environmental consciousness and well organized environmental NGOs that have the resources to push for radical ecological reform; intermediate economic or business organizations that are able to represent sectoral or regional producers in negotiations; some experience with and tradition in negotiated policy making; a detailed system of environmental monitoring that generates sufficient, reliable and public environmental data; a state regulated market economy that dominates production and consumption processes, covering all the edges of society and closely connected to the globalized world market; and advanced technological development in a highly industrialized society.

The institutional conditions in industrial societies differ in a number of vital respects from those in least developed societies such as in sub-Saharan Africa. In such countries, a straight adaptation of ecological modernization theory would likely entail dangers similar to the transfer of technologies from North to South without taking into account local social, institutional, ecological and cultural conditions. On the other hand, with respect to some Central and East European countries and the Newly Industrializing Countries or High Performance Economies in, for instance, East and Southeast Asia, ecological modernization theory seems more promising. Our central argument is that ecological modernization theory forms a useful starting point to understand and contribute to environmental reform processes in such countries, be it that an ecological modernization theory for transitional and newly industrializing countries will differ on major points from the original, West-European centrist one. By taking East and Southeast Asia as locations of study, we will contribute to developing an ecological modernization ‘model’ for newly industrializing countries.

4. Empirical object

These areas were not chosen at random. Despite the current crisis in their financial markets, East and Southeast Asia are still widely believed to become the leading economic regions in the next century (cf. Castells, 1997) and already show amazing patterns of economic growth and industrialization. It seems interesting for social theory to investigate the value of ecological modernization theory - and its related environmental reform models - for these high performance economies. At the same time, it seems essential from both a regional and global environmental policy perspective to contribute to the transformation of the ‘traditional’ industrialization patterns of these high performance economies into more ecologically sound directions. Among East and Southeast Asian economies with high percentages of economic growth and rapid industrialization, the countries chosen – Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and China - can be seen as second-tier tiger economies that try to get on the trail of the first generation tiger economies such as Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

The selection of these particular countries is to some extent a practical one, based on existing research collaboration of the participating institutions in the empirical fields outlined above. In that sense this selection should not be seen as a definite or final selection that allows no new participants from other countries. This network is certainly open to new collaborators. The selected countries include a variety of political-institutional backgrounds, together with some uniformities with respect to regional setting, economic development and state structure (cf. Evans, 1995). This provides a research program with sufficient diversity of mechanisms and dynamics to contribute to (our understanding of) industrial transformation, but with differences not so extreme to make it impossible to learn from each others' experiences of environment-informed industrial reforms.

In investigating the social dynamics behind industrial restructuring, case studies will be carried out in four fields of industrialization:

  1. Major individual industrial enterprises that contribute significantly to environmental deterioration;
  2. Industrial zones -- of vital importance in the industrialization policies of various East and Southeast Asia economies, while at the same time playing a vital role in designing environmental management systems that reorient the path of industrialization into more environmentally sound directions;
  3. Industrial sectors that either have a particularly heavy impact on the environment, most notably oil and gas, chemical, paper and pulp, metal, and agro-food industries; or play a particularly important role in social and economic development, such as electronics; and
  4. Small and medium sized industries; although their individual contribution to environmental deterioration is usually limited, their large number, scattered locational profile, poor environmental provisions and difficult accessibility for environmental policy makers make them an important source of environmental decay.

5. Research methodologies

We propose the establishment of an umbrella program under which a variety of studies are brought together each with their own value in understanding industrial restructuring in one (or more) country/ies. The additional value of such an umbrella program is at least threefold:

  1. The partial studies are carried out with a common framework, which will frame participating institutions' investigations of the dynamics of industrial restructuring and allow for comparisons between cases. Experiences and lessons across countries (cf. from neighboring countries, from West-European countries and the USA) as well as across sectors can thus be exchanged.
  2. The program aims for regular meetings of investigators from the participating institutions to present their findings, discuss common themes with respect to the social dynamics of industrial transformations and contribute to common understanding of ecological modernization practices in East and Southeast Asia;
  3. The program aims at designing and organizing research projects in which some or all of the collaborating institutions participate focused on comparing industrial restructuring processes in the various countries. These projects will take one of the four empirical focuses outlined in the previous section as their main object.

Within each case study, methodologies will differ according to the specific research focus and questions, available data and funding possibilities. Case studies focusing on in-depth analyses of a limited number of industries within a sector or geographical area will be the most common form. In addition, there will be some surveys among larger samples of (especially medium and small-scale) industries.

6. Time frame

This program starts with a five-year time frame. It will operationalize in 1999 and run until the end of 2003. Various projects within this program will have a shorter time frame, some have already started, while some may run beyond 2003.

7. Concrete projects and finances

Various financial contributions make it possible for significant parts of this research program to be underway already. Financial contributions still have to be secured for other parts.

Current studies are being financed by national sources, both within the academic institutions themselves (universities or others), and partly by governmental and private organizations. Most of these studies are being carried out within one country by one participating institution, but it is the intention of the cooperating participants to coordinate these national studies into comparative or international research undertakings. The similarity in focus of interest and the parallels in the history of research topics of each of the institutions provide sufficient basis for further collaborative efforts on a variety of industrial transformation research (see below: experiences in the field of the participating institutions).

The Dutch Ministry of International Development Cooperation, via the organization SAIL, contributes to a major research and education project on industrial transformation in the Southern Key Economic Zone in Vietnam, in which Wageningen University, CENTEMA (Van Lang University) and the University of California cooperate. Industrial restructuring of individual enterprises, industrial zones, industrial transformations of the food industry and electronics sectors and the ecological modernization of small and medium sized textile industries in and around HoChiMinh City are partial studies in this project, which runs from 1997-2002.

The Academies of Sciences of the Netherlands and China, Wageningen University, and the Chinese State Commission of Science and Technology, together fund a project (1998-2002) on the industrial transformations in so-called Town and Village Industrial Enterprises (TVIEs) in China. The project especially focuses on the interactions between state and industries in trying to improve the environmental performance of these small and medium sized industries at the rural-urban interface. It is part of a larger project that was jointly initiated by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES, Japan) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences on comprehensive urban environmental management and sustainable industrial development.

The University of California supports several related projects including a study of the ecological modernization of pulp and paper manufacturing in Southeast Asia, an examination of community-based environmental management in Vietnam, and an analysis of the development of high-performance electronics manufacturing in Penang, Malaysia. UKM, with support from the Malaysian government, is a full participant in the Penang study. Chulalongkorn University is contributing in-kind expenses in development of a multi-nation collaborative study of industrial transformation of the electronics industry.

Researchers at Chiang Mai University are analyzing environmental and social impacts, and socio-economic consequences of the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in northern Thailand, and the role of civil society in environmental management (pollution control) of those enterprises. They are studying the impact of food processing, handicraft, textile and electronics assembly enterprises on the quality of life of individuals, villages, and communities; as well as the social determinants, behavior, and attitudes of civil society groups toward improvement of environmental problems associated with such enterprises in villages and industrial estates. "Civil society" here includes governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic, business enterprises and local people's organizations. Participants in the research effort include scholars in sociology, economics, and environmental and chemical engineering.

Additional funding will be sought for at least three major undertakings:

8. Relations with other institutions

The participants of this program aim to involve four categories of institutions in this program: other academic institutions, state agencies, industries and industrial organizations, and civil society representatives. Each of the institutions has excellent contact and working relations with all four groups, nationally and internationally.

Of special interest for IHDP-IT is that close collaboration is established with the initiative by Dr. David Angel and others, who propose to establish a related project within the Southeast and East Asian region. The projects are similar in geographical scope and complementary to a major extent in research questions, academic approach and disciplines, and participants. Together they form an excellent starting point for a regional program under IHDP-IT.

9. Participating institutions: experiences in the field

  1. Department of Environmental Sociology, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands, has been engaged in international environmental research from the late 1980s onwards. It is at the foundation of the development of the theory of ecological modernization of production and consumption. Current research themes focus, among others, on comparative and international environmental policy studies, industrial restructuring processes in developing and developed regions, the ecological modernization of production and consumption. The department collaborates with various universities and institutes in Europe and beyond. Since 1995, the department has been engaged in research and education in Southeast and East Asian countries. The department is at the core of two international MSc programs in environmental management and urban environmental management, as well as one Dutch MSc program in environmental sciences. The international education programs attract numerous students from Asia. The secretariat of the International Sociological Association Environment and Society Research Committee is located at this department.
  2. The Center for Environmental Technology and Management (CENTEMA), Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. CENTEMA was established in 1993 as a research and education center associated with Van Lang University. Starting from a technological expertise in waste water treatment, it has broadened its scope of activities considerably to now include solid waste collection and treatment, air pollution monitoring and treatment and organizational and management studies in environmental policy and industrial environmental management. CENTEMA has close working relations with industries, industrial organizations and environmental authorities in Vietnam and carries out major investigations for these parties. Within the REFINE (Research and Education For Industry and Environment) program, CENTEMA works closely together with Wageningen University and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, both in the Netherlands, and more recently with the University of California at Berkeley. CENTEMA is the lead organization for the BSc program in Environmental Technology and Management at Van Lang University and is starting an MSc program.
  3. Department of Systems Ecology(DSE), Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences is a key research lab in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, open to domestic and foreign researchers. Founded in 1986, DSE is aimed at interdisciplinary and integrative fundamental and applied research on densely populated areas, with an emphasis on promoting sustainable urban and regional development through ecological engineering and ecological planning from technology innovation, institutional reform and behavioral inducement. The main goals are to encourage integration between hardware and software, between science and society, between researchers, entrepreneurs and decision-makers. DSE also offers MSc. and Ph.D. degrees to students. There are currently 25 researchers and 15 graduate students in DSE. DSE cooperates widely with countries in Europe, the USA, Japan and Southeast Asia. The Ecological Society of China, Urban Ecology China, Eco-Environment Commission of Chinese Society for Sustainable Development, and the Beijing International Center for Ecological Engineering are attached to DSE.
  4. The Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley, was established in 1955 to promote interdisciplinary research in international, comparative, and policy studies. Current research focuses on peace and security after the Cold War; environment, demography, and sustainable development; development and comparative modernities across regions; and globalization and the transformation of the global economy. Included in the Institute's programs is the Berkeley Workshop on Environmental Politics. The workshop brings together faculty and doctoral students from San Francisco Bay Area institutions (the University of California campuses at Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Davis, and Stanford University) who share a concern with problems at the intersection of the environmental and social sciences, the humanities, and law. The Workshop is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation and the MacArthur Foundation. It recently funded a faculty and doctoral student working group on industry and environment, including individuals with ongoing research in S. Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
  5. The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, was established along with Chiang Mai University (CMU), in 1964. The department offers a masters' degree in social development as well as bachelor's degrees in sociology, anthropology, social work and social development. Masters-level coursework focuses on social organization; sustainable community, rural and urban development; social policy and planning; socio-economic and cultural transformation; environmental sociology; demography; and social research methodology. Departmental research focuses on industry, environment, technology and society; gender and environment; and socio-economic aspects of village and small and medium-sized industrial development, including handicrafts, jewelry, textiles, food processing and electronics assembly. Faculty work in close cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations and industrial associations in Thailand's northern region. CMU has 16 faculties and has adopted an interdisciplinary program as its educational system. The present research will help mobilize the university's extensive human and physical resources to effectively promote education, research and service for the benefit of society in northern Thailand and elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia.

References

Castells, M. (1997), The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, vols. 1-3, Malden (Mass) and Oxford: Blackwell

Evans, P. (1995), Embedded Autonomy. States and Industrial Transformation, Princeton: Princeton University Press

Mol, A.P.J. (1995), The Refinement of Production. Ecological Modernization Theory and the Chemical Industry, Utrecht: International Books

Mol, A.P.J. and G. Spaargaren (2000), "Ecological Modernization Theory in Debate: A Review," Environmental Politics 9(1), Spring

Spaargaren, G., A.P.J. Mol and F. Buttel (1999), Environment, Sociology and Global Modernity, London: Sage