Abstract
In China, large hydraulic engineering projects have made a great contribution to social economic development; at the same time, they also lead to social risks that affect social stability. The pluralism of stakeholders in large hydraulic engineering projects and the complex interrelationship among stakeholders are the important factors affecting social stability risk. Previous studies of social stability risk have mainly focused on risk identification and risk assessment, without considering the relationships among stakeholders and their linkages of risks. For large hydraulic engineering projects, this paper investigated the relevant risk factors and their interrelationships through a literature review and interviews that represented stakeholder perspectives. The key social stability risk factors were identified based on social network analysis. A multi-channel project financial system, a perfect interest compensation mechanism, an efficient prevention mechanism of group events, and a complete project schedule control system were proposed to mitigate the social stability risks. This study combined stakeholder management with risk management by using social network analysis, providing reference for the social stability risk management of large engineering projects in China.
Highlights
Hydraulic engineering is an important infrastructure of the national economy and social development, which has an irreplaceable role in aspects related to flood control safety, the rational use of water resources, ecological environment protection, and the promotion of national economic development
A large number of circle and square nodes occupy the center of the network, which can be shown in Figure 2, indicating that government and project developers play the most important roles in the social stability risk network of large hydraulic engineering projects
Based on social network analysis theory and the traditional risk management framework, this paper explores the main challenges faced by stakeholders through the analysis of the social stability risk factors and their interactions, which provides a new perspective for the social stability risk management of large hydraulic engineering projects
Summary
Hydraulic engineering is an important infrastructure of the national economy and social development, which has an irreplaceable role in aspects related to flood control safety, the rational use of water resources, ecological environment protection, and the promotion of national economic development. The construction and properties of large hydraulic engineering projects inevitably impacts the regional and national society–economy–ecology system, especially in relation to land acquisition and house demolition issues and environment damage issues These are accompanied by great social risks that have a wide spread of aspects and a large range of influence. The Chinese Government re-emphasized the need to “implement the social stability risk assessment mechanism of major policy decisions to prevent and defuse social contradiction” in their “Report on the Work of the Government (2015)”, and proposed that they “must take tough steps to forestall and defuse major risks” and “improve mechanisms for preventing and defusing social tensions” in 2017 All of this shows that the government has always placed a high value on the social stability risk of large engineering projects at all levels and across all social groups, and that it has become an important part in the assessment of engineering projects
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