Food safety is closely related to public health and well-being, and food safety-related public crises have sounded an alarm for the nation. Based on the recent mixed-loading incident involving oil tankers, this study constructs a "frontstage–backstage" analytical framework to explore the institutional logic and governance effectiveness of China’s response to food safety crises from the perspective of edifying governance. The study finds that, under the backdrop of ambiguous responsibilities and regulatory gaps, local governments leverage their informational and alliance-building advantages to implement edifying governance in two stages, resolving the crisis while simultaneously achieving the goal of liability avoidance. However, resolving the crisis does not necessarily mean that the underlying problems are substantively addressed. Edifying governance may foster an organizational culture of inaction and self-protection, potentially leading to more severe public crises in the future.

Xiyuan Wang. The Institutional Logic and Governance Effectiveness of Edifying Governance in Response to Oil Safety Crises: A Case Study of the Oil Tanker Mixed-Load Incident. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2025), Vol. 8, Issue 8: 13-21. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2025.080803.

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