theories of collective action, policy analysis, environmental governance

My research is about new directions in policy analysis, e.g., a topological approach to modeling institutions, which I develop in the book, Frameworks for Policy Analysis: Merging Text and Context (Routledge). My foremost area of research is in theorizing collective action, especially in policy arenas characterized by multiple values (the vector payoff case) and incommensurability (the nontransferable utility case). My theory work at present revolves around: modeling relationships as multi-dimensional identities (a qualitative model), and modeling Coasean bargains under nontransferable utility (a mathematical model). These models help explain new institutional designs for addressing intractable social problems (such as the increasing vulnerability of marginalized communities and ecological values in the peripheries of society). Basically, the models attempt to explain collective behavior when the rational model cannot. Much of my work on new institutional designs stems from collaboration with Helen Ingram on network governance. I developed a model of institutions as structurings of care, which we use to study innovative modes of governance. Some of the institutions I study revolve around community-based modes of governance, e.g., species conservation on the Turtle Islands, participatory action research for health intervention in Southeast LA, people power revolts in Burma and the Philippines, and others. Recent work with Dan Stokols is focusing on combining positivist and narrative elements in policy analysis (a critical aspect of the multi-dimensional question).

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5499

Last updated
11/08/2018