Precautionary authoritarianism and the contested governance of Chinese food safety

ABSTRACT Chinese food policy has changed over the last two decades from a productivist focus to embracing a precautionary approach to food safety. What are the drivers of this change? And what are the implications for the Chinese political regime? While acknowledging the relevance of global dynamics, we claim that domestic dynamics have largely accounted for this change. A series of food scandals in the 2000s has caused concerns among Chinese consumers and ultimately lead to a contested governance of food safety in the nation that has challenged the legitimacy of the regime itself. The government has responded by introducing new precautionary measures, as theorists of responsive authoritarianism would predict. Contrary to such predictions, though, the Chinese government toughened provisions to repress violations. Due to these characteristics, we conclude that the Chinese approach to food safety that emerged after the food scandals can be synthesised as a form of precautionary authoritarianism.