Constructing government attention through policy synergy in China's haze governance

Against the backdrop of widespread concern over the haze problem, China is committed to seeking effective governance strategies. This study aims to explore the ways in which actors seek to attract the attention of the government in order to promote policy synergy. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, collecting data from government websites and reports (2008-2023). The data is analyzed using the Jieba Chinese Segmentation tool, sk-learn Toolkit, and the K-Means algorithm in Python. It is found that government attention has gone through a critical transition from generation to allocation. In the initial stage of attention generation, the focus is on enhancing the visibility of the haze problem through policy. During attention allocation, the objective is to implement a systematic governance approach. The construction of attention connects these stages with the support of advocacy coalitions (government, media, public) to stimulate policy synergies. Furthermore, the advocacy coalitions play a pivotal role in the optimization of haze governance policies by using a strategy that capitalizes on the framing effect. This study highlights China's governance model, which entails a "central coordination, local implementation" approach, whereby the central government formulates a strategic plan and localities implement it in a practical manner, as a reference for other countries. From a theoretical standpoint, this study introduces an analytical framework, designated as the "attention system" to explore the relationship between the government's attention and policy synergy. It illuminates the role of actors at micro level, enriching the theoretical understanding of policy synergy and environmental governance.