This article examines the economic development process underlying Shanghai's rapid urban transformation in the 1990s. It analyses the key factors that have contributed to the economic development there and assesses critically the role of the state in this process. It concludes that the sheer scale of investment and the national contexts, rather than far-sighted economic management at the local level, are the keys to its economic success. The article further argues that the prevailing views regarding the local state-market relationship in Shanghai need to be revised: beneath the façade of a proactive and omnipotent state are numerous instances of failure and ineffectiveness. Moreover, the market is much more than a tool in the state's decision-making. It is a growing force that the state is trying hard to control, but with increasing difficulties.

This paper takes an innovation system approach to analysing the development of wind energy in three jurisdictions: the EU, USA and China. The paper builds on and extends previous innovation system studies on wind in two ways. First, it focuses on the interactions over time between policy and innovation system dynamics, in order to highlight lessons for low-carbon policymaking. Second, it extends the analysis from the formative and growth phases of the innovation system to the globalisation and transfer phase, in which mature technologies are transferred to new markets. The conclusions are: first, policies should go beyond 'market pull' and 'technology push' and should take into account the institutional frameworks through which they are delivered; second, policies have been more successful where they prioritised long-term learning-oriented deployment rather than short-term efficiency; third, system failures exist at the transfer stage of development as well as during formative and growth phases.

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This article explores the role of Sino-British collaboration in promoting green bond development in China, the extent to which it meets the United Kingdom’s wider objectives regarding the UK-China bilateral relationship and the underlying factors. Drawing on desk research and interviews, it tests and validates the hypothesis that the key driving force for this development is the coupling of the financialisation of the Chinese economy and the politics of ‘ecological civilisation’, although learning through international interaction has also played a role. It further shows that the scope for the United Kingdom to benefit from this growth is limited by the structure of UK-China trade, China’s strong macro-economic control and its approach to international relations that prioritises learning and identity transformation rather than the opening up of its markets. Inter-hub competition also plays a part.

This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the role of the state in influencing the formation of global cities in emerging economies, and highlights the complexity of this role due to challenging external environments, divergent interests of state actors, and socio-economic and institutional constraints that these actors are under. At an empirical level, it examines the progress of Shanghai in its state-led development as an emerging global city and the respective roles of the national and local governments in this process.