An early incarnation of this book was produced when I was working on my dissertation at Stanford. During that time, I forged my own path by simultaneously completing a Ph.D. in political science and an M.S. in civil and environmental engineering in five years. I am incredibly indebted to my two very supportive primary advisors, Bruce Cain and Jean Oi. In addition to reading and commenting on various versions of chapters from this project, they always encouraged and affirmed my risky interdisciplinary pursuits and the translation of those efforts into academic research, including that for this book.

Growing as an interdisciplinary scholar has been an exciting but also highly challenging journey because the training in fundamentally different disciplines and the thought process to bridge them demand a lot of time, conviction, creativity, and stamina. Furthermore, interdisciplinary research does not fit neatly into existing paradigms, and the payoffs of being interdisciplinary are not immediate. As such, I am beyond grateful that Bruce and Jean have always seen in me not an adamant “fox” who hesitates to transform herself into a hardcore “hedgehog,” but, as they put it, “a trendsetter who has the rare ability to speak the languages of multiple very different disciplines and draw new connections between them.” They do so even when, and especially when, I encounter setbacks, of which there have been plenty.

Many other individuals provided valuable comments and feedback and offered support, in big or small ways, at various stages of this project. Please know that this list is far from being comprehensive, given limited space. In chronological order, I thank Lisa Blaydes and Jonathan Rodden for offering early feedback when I started this project in their classes in 2014 and for encouraging me to pursue it for my dissertation; Jim Sweeney, Mike Tomz, and Xueguang Zhou for asking interesting questions and offering helpful feedback, both substantively and methodologically; the late Mat McCubbins, Andy Mertha, and Alex Wang for reading and offering detailed comments on portions of this manuscript and other participants at my book workshop for their feedback; Edgar Franco Vivanco and Cesar Martinez Alvarez for working with me in Chapter 7 to test the theory of the political regulation wave based on evidence from local pollution patterns in Mexico; discussants and audiences at various workshops and conferences held by the American Political Science Association, the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Indiana University Bloomington’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Ostrom Workshop Program on Environment & Natural Resource Governance, the International Studies Association, Nanjing University, New York University, Southern Political Science Association, Stanford University, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Virginia, the Western Political Science Association, among others; Sonal Pandya for offering moral support and sharing advice about the book publishing process; Kerry Chen, Ingrid Huang, and research assistants in China for entering and coding data; Charles Hurt and Alexander MacLeod for their careful editing of the manuscript; editors Joe Ng and Jorge E. Viñuales for believing in the promise of this project and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Unfortunately, as I was preparing the final draft for the publisher, I learned of the untimely passing of Mat, to whom I had wanted to show the final product, so let me recount a story. We first met in 2018. I was at my desk at the Bill Lane Center, making edits to a draft discussion of police patrols versus fire alarms in environmental governance when Mat walked into the office. After hearing about the research, he offered on the spot to be a discussant at my book workshop the following year. Despite his failing health, Mat traveled all the way to the workshop and offered valuable feedback that made me think about the project in new ways. I am particularly grateful for his inputs, given the difficult circumstances.

Several individuals in China generously devoted their time and used their connections to help me obtain internal information and interviews with key central and local stakeholders. While doing fieldwork could be a joy, it could also sometimes be profoundly frustrating, such as when I spent days in local hotels without any leads for interviews. This bit of suffering made me all the more appreciative of the help I could get. I cannot thank my field contacts individually for reasons of anonymity, but my book would not have been possible without them.

The research undertaken for this book would not be possible without the generous support of numerous organizations. I thank the financial generosity of the Center on Global Poverty and Development (now the King Center on Global Development), the China Center at Peking University, and the School of Humanities and Sciences as well as the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy and the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association. In addition, the China Center provided a state-of-the-art workspace while I was doing fieldwork in China. One often underappreciated but highly critical aspect of work is adequate administrative support. As such, I am incredibly grateful to Stanford staff in the Department of Political Science, the China Center, the Bill Lane Center, and the Hoover Institution for being consistently attentive, resourceful, competent, and often going above and beyond in supporting me and my work.

I thank the selection committees of the 2017 American Political Science Association’s Paul A. Sabatier Award, the 2018 Southern Political Science Association’s Malcolm Jewell Award, the 2019 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s Ph.D. Dissertation Award, and the 2020 American Political Science Association’s Harold D. Lasswell Award. Their effusive appreciation and unreserved affirmation of previous parts of this book in both paper and dissertation formats helped keep my faith in this project alive over the years, especially during difficult times. Additionally, I thank those who had disagreed with my work in past years because they have helped me sharpen my voice; without them, this work would not be in the shape it is today. Any remaining errors are, of course, mine alone.

My earlier experience and preparation were integral to the birth of this book. My last full summer spent in Beijing was very memorable, witnessing firsthand how political power changed the color of the sky in a matter of days leading up to the 2008 Olympics. That experience inspired me to study the environment during my undergraduate years at Swarthmore College. I am eternally indebted to my alma mater for offering me a four-year full scholarship – a considerable rarity for international applicants – so that I was able to move to the United States to continue my intellectual pursuits in the liberal arts tradition. My life changed forever. I am grateful to have had an enabling and nourishing environment to be self-directed from the start and have had inspiring and dedicated teachers who convinced this natural-science-oriented student that the social sciences could be equally fascinating. I am also forever grateful to Stanford Political Science for taking a chance on me and to Stanford Civil & Environmental Engineering for eventually admitting me after I had completed all required coursework for the degree and showed that a social scientist can also become an environmental engineer.

Finally, my parents deserve my most tremendous gratitude. They always encouraged me to strive for the educational opportunities they never had. They endured many years living apart from their only child while I was chasing and living my dreams. They supported me no matter what. I thank them for their relentless love and encouragement, especially at critical junctures and tough moments, and for constantly reminding me that it is not because I see hope that I persist, but I persist in order to see hope (不是因为看到了希望才去坚持, 而是坚持了才能看到希望). When I asked them whom they thought I had dedicated this book to, they provided a long list of guesses, but never themselves. They are the most selfless humans and my favorite people. They have shared the pain and the sacrifice, and they shall share any positive outcomes that this book will bring about.