ABSTRACT
The peri-urban case of Dagong village outlined in this chapter shows the limitations of linkages. While environmental organizations and various Beijing intermediaries engaged with the Dagong case early on and tried to mobilize the communities around the project site, no unified or sustained local contention emerged. This case shows that even when strong linkages exist, diffusion effects are strongly dependent on the local context and fail to unfold if not anchored in sustained local contention. Moreover, the case shows the ‘uneasy alliance’ (McAdam and Boudet 2012: 135) between environmentalists and local communities where the preferred means of action and priorities of the two groups diverge.
