Authoritarian cooptation of urban protests in China: normative, cognitive, and regulatory controls through the media

Abstract

The Chinese government’s practice in tackling large-scale urban protests in recent years indicates a new trend in political cooptation, which differs from its traditional handling of contentious politics. This study explores the mechanisms of authoritarian cooptation by analyzing the government’s handling of the anti-incineration protests in Guangzhou in 2011–2012. The results of the textual analysis and the data collected in in-depth interviews suggest that the government strategically applied normative, cognitive, and regulatory controls as mechanisms of authoritarian cooptation. Specifically, the government promoted public trust through the normative cooptation of the media, thereby fostering the image of a responsive government. It also used the strategy of cognitive cooptation to divert the issue from waste incineration to waste sorting, thus convincing journalists and the public of the safety and scientificity of the incineration technology based on endorsements by expert advice. The strategy of regulatory cooptation was applied when the government made compulsory the enforcement of projects and regulated media content. Consequently, the protest was fragmented and dispersed, and the mobilization of the movement was undermined.