Within the shadow of hierarchy: The role of hierarchical interventions in environmental collaborative governance

Existing literature often analyzes the effects of horizontal relationships on collaborative governance, though some scholars have started to recognize the role of hierarchical interventions. This paper identities two poorly examined areas of study. First, there is a lack of empirical studies to understand the diverse impacts of hierarchical interventions on collaborative governance. Second, there is little deliberation on how existing horizontal relationships can moderate the effects that hierarchical interventions have on collaborative governance. This paper utilizes environmental collaboration data from the Yangtze River Delta region in China to estimate the impacts of hierarchical interventions on collaborative arrangements and the contextual effects of horizontal relationships. We find that hierarchical interventions, such as top-down regulations and performance evaluation, enhance the formalization of collaborative arrangements. Additionally, horizontal relationships derived from past experiences can moderate the effects of hierarchical interventions, notwithstanding such effects vary among different interventions.