Multiple Streams in Hawaii: How the Aloha State Adopted a 100% Renewable Portfolio Standard

Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are an important policy tool for reducing carbon emissions and advancing the global shift toward renewable energy. As the U.S. federal government backs away from commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subnational governments play an increasingly important role in mitigating climate change. In June 2015, Hawaii became the first state in the United States to adopt a 100% RPS. Through understanding the conditions that gave rise to Hawaii’s RPS, policy actors will be better informed as they navigate policy processes in other states and jurisdictions. This study uses Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to explore the policy process that led to Hawaii’s 100% RPS. Data were collected during the summer of 2016 via interviews with 25 key policy actors and informants in Hawaii. Expectations based on the MSF are confirmed, and the results suggest factors that might be included or explored in future studies of RPS adoption.     

Conservation in Context: Toward a Systems Framing of Decentralized Governance and Public Participation in Wildlife Management

Governance scholars have long championed the adaptive utility of decentralized management institutions, in part due to their ability to bring diverse stakeholders into decision‐making processes. However, research into the link between decentralization and participation often looks at policy design but bypasses important system feedbacks that shape sustained participation over time. To paint a more robust picture detailing how decentralization and participation are related, this paper uses a complex systems framework to explore interacting structural, operational, and cultural components of decentralized wildlife governance institutions in the United States and Botswana. Through this comparative analysis, I argue that the landscape of public participation in decentralized governance institutions appears to be significantly impacted by three factors: 1) how decentralization processes occurred, 2) where in the process of decision making participation is situated, and 3) perceptions of power distribution between groups with competing interests.     

Governing Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction: The Case of Pennsylvania

Over the past decade, directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing enabled an unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) boom in many regions of the United States, including parts of Pennsylvania. This revolution has created serious concerns about the capability of existing institutions to govern important societal outcomes associated with UOGE. We present a conceptual framework for assessing key societal outcomes influenced by UOGE governance. In applying this framework to Pennsylvania, we discern certain institutional strengths that have allowed the Commonwealth to reap appreciable short‐term economic growth from rich resource endowments. We also find, however, that several institutional weaknesses have allowed costs externalized to the environment, public health, and community integrity to offset some proportion of those economic benefits. Likewise, we find that governance of UOGE in Pennsylvania has contributed to a bifurcated sociopolitical landscape wherein adversarial coalitions dispute the legitimacy of the industry and its governance.     

The devil we know and the angel that did not fly: An examination of devil/angel shift in twitter fracking “debates” in NY 2008–2018

Recent work has applied the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to examine narrative strategies in policy debates on social media platforms. We contribute to the literature by applying the NPF to fracking policy debates in New York using well-established Natural Language Processing tools, including sentiment analysis. We combine this computational approach with a qualitative hand-coding of pro- and antifracking Twitter influentials. This approach allows us to consider a much larger corpus of tweets over a much longer time frame than has been done thus far. We adapt and test NPF propositions related to the use of the devil/angel shift strategies before and after a major state-wide policy change, that is, a state-wide moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Overall, we find evidence for the use of the devil shift narrative strategy by the pro-fracking coalition aimed at the Governor prior to the moratorium. After the moratorium, the relative percentage of Tweets containing devil shift sentiments decreases as the pro-fracking coalition generally downshifts in its use of angel shift language without a corresponding increase in devil shift language, whereas, conversely, the anti-fracking coalition generally downshifts in its use of devil shift language without a general increase in angel shift language. When we shifted our analysis to Tweets containing fracking and the Governor, we found a similar postban decrease in devil shift language among anti-fracking users. Our findings offer lessons for using computational tools in the NPF as an approach to expand analytic ability and for the operationalization of concepts such as narrative strategies and policy entrepreneurs.     

论生态文明及其法律制度保障

建设生态文明是人类社会历史发展的必然。生态文明是贯穿人类社会始终的一种精神文明,其核心是＂人与自然协调发展＂。环境权在现代文明社会的出现,不但是对权利体系的进一步丰富,而且是人权的进一步发展,更是生态文明的创举。当前,完善生态立法、加强行政执法力度和加大司法介入力度等法律实施的各个环节进行保障,才是生态文明法治的关键。     

技术创新生态化——一种思想的转向

文章从剖析目前正盛行的技术创新理论入手,大胆地提出一种思想的全新转向--技术创新的生态化转向,从技术创新生态化的必然性、技术创新生态化的内涵特征以及技术创新的哲学意义三个方面来阐述和论证这种思想的可行性.     

技术创新的外部效应与生态化转向研究

技术创新的外部效应是导致环境污染与生态恶化的诱因之一。在市场条件下,通过征收庇古税等方法,虽然可以纠正这种外部效应,但没有从根本上解除环境污染与生态恶化等问题。实现技术创新生态化,使技术创新朝有利于可持续发展的方向发展是解决技术创新外部效应的必然选择,也是根本出路。     

铲除文化垃圾净化成长环境--预防青少年犯罪问题的再思索

"文化垃圾是诱发青少年犯罪的重要原因.铲除文化垃圾、净化成长环境是预防青少年犯罪的关键.本文分析了文化垃圾的产生和危害,提出了铲除文化垃圾的方法与途径.     

论边缘儿童产生的成因及其游戏治疗

边缘儿童是在普通学前教育机构中,游离于集体边缘、言行举止介于正常与异常边缘的儿童.生态系统的失衡是导致边缘儿童产生的根本原因,家庭生态的失衡是儿童边缘化的诱因,同伴欠缺加剧了儿童的边缘化倾向,教师忽视加深了儿童边缘化的程度.游戏是帮助边缘儿童表达问题的重要途径,游戏治疗具有改善边缘儿童现状的功能.通过创设满足儿童需要的新环境,改善与修复已有的生态环境,以"家长参与"、"同伴介入"、"教师关注"等干预方式,修复或改善边缘儿童的生态环境系统,使边缘儿童的问题得以缓解或消除,使边缘儿童因顺应生态系统的平衡而逐渐回归到正常的同伴群体.     

环境时代宪法的权利生态化特征

文章首先指出无论是近代宪法的法理基础———个人主义 ,还是现代宪法的法理基础———团体主义 ,都难以对付当前日益严重生态危机的挑战 ,主张可在团体主义的基础上将生态主义作为环境时代宪法的法理基础 ;而后 ,文章通过对传统宪法价值取向在环境时代所表现出种种局限的反思 ,提出环境时代宪法的价值取向———当代人与后代人 ,人与自然 ;最后 ,文章认为随着环境时代宪法法理基础———生态主义的建立和宪法价值取向———当代人与后代人 ,人与自然的确立 ,宪法将在权利社会化的基础上向权利生态化扩展 ,并围绕“人类和生态共同利益”之保护而精心构建 ,从而极具权利生态化的特征。