Ecological States

Jesse Rodenbiker is Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University with the Center on Contemporary China at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and Assistant Teaching Professor at Rutgers University with the Department of Geography.

Ecological States is a must read for those concerned about environmentalism, sustainability, urbanization, and governance.(International Journal of Asian Studies) Rodenbiker's study is both timely and urgent, as Xi Jinping cements what appears to be indefinite rule over the country and maintains the ecological civilization campaign as a centerpiece of his Beautiful China vision. In this sense, Ecological States is a window into current and future Chinese governance.(The Developing Economies) The book provides valuable insights into the environmental politics of contemporary urban China. Rodenbiker demonstrates a solid understanding of the unique political, administrative, and social systems in China and presents them in a clear manner that is accessible to readers unfamiliar with the Chinese context.(The China Journal) A beautifully written scholarly monograph, the book is an important addition to the rapidly growing environmental social science literature on contemporary China.(The Journal of Asian Studies) Rodenbiker's Ecological States brings to the forefront, through rich ethnographic work and nuanced theoretical engagement, another crucial aspect of state-led processes of urban transformation: China's ecological turn.(Society & Space)

• Introduction: Ecological States Part I: Ecology and State Power1. Making Ecology Developmental 2. Botany, Beauty, Purification 3. Ecological Territorialization Part II : Ecology and Social Trajectories4. Ecological Migrations, Volumetric Aspirations 5. Rural Redux 6. Infrastructural DiffusionEpilogue: Global Ecological Futures