In thinking about so many issues of resilience and robustness in social-ecological systems and some of the fragility that comes with societal attempts to protect against disturbances, I think that it makes sense for us to use a metaphor from the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. This metaphor is that “Vulnerabilities cannot be eliminated”, although I suppose that we’re quite good at creating new ones (witness the escape of the Stuxnet virus). What I mean about vulnerabilities not being eliminated is that we often respond to perceived vulnerability by shifting them. We often shift them to others in acceptable (purchasing insurance) or unacceptable (shipping hazardous waste to the Developing World) ways spatially. Or we shift them temporally. Again, this may be acceptable (taking out loans to pay off current charges) or unacceptably (pushing environmental hazards intergenerationally).
17 May
Complexity in Economics (and Political Science)
I’m fascinated by Beinhocker’s “The Origin of Wealth” and his use of complexity science in economics. He demonstrates how the challenges of today can no longer be studied sufficiently using past reductionist scientific approaches. Instead, we need a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to the questions of today – how does life originate, how do economies function and self-organize, where does consciousness come from, and so on.
Beinhocker also provides a strong critique of many of the shortcomings of traditional economics. Without going into the details, it’s about building ever-increasingly complicated mathematical models built around assumptions that bear no grounding in reality. In particular, the idea of equilibrium models in economics is fundamentally flawed as the economy is rarely anywhere near equilibrium. I know that some dyed-in-the wool economists may disagree with some of this, and my point is not to engage in this wrestling match. Rather, I find it disappointing to see political scientists falling into the same tar pit.
A preview of the latest issue of AJPS readily shows the wonderful mathematics and modeling sophistication of “cutting edge” political science. But too many of the articles struggle with two issues. First, they are built around many of the same shoddy assumptions of the economists. It seems to be a crazy game where the political scientists (and I presume many of the other social sciences) are chasing the mathematical economists. They, in turn, are chasing the physicists. But the physicists that they are chasing are from 100 years ago, and the physical scientists have since moved on. Second, the pursuit of mathematics as the end goal has changed the types of questions frequently being addressed by political scientists. No longer is the question of central importance. Instead, the question must be one that enables equations that can be readily solved. Peruse the research questions in many of the mainstream political science journals and see if they are 1) interesting and 2) of relevance to society or to practitioners. I think that too often the answer is NO and NO.
I don’t mean to denigrate all publications, but, damn, the field as a whole needs to step up.
5 Jan
I’m No Luddite
I’m no Luddite or technology-hater. In fact, I’m nearly the opposite. I’m sitting here writing a blog for that matter. However, I’m becoming increasingly disturbed with the use of technology to repeatedly take us away from the world outside our collective window. Over the past weekend, I went to the park with my daughter. Of the 15 parents there with kids, 12 were on smartphones or texting for much of their time. So much for time with your child. I know that I’m guilty of getting sucked into emails, Skype calls, surfing the web, and just my everyday work on the computer, so I’m aware of my hypocritical stance. I also increasingly value time where we can go “off grid”, whether it’s for a short hike or an overdue vacation. And I’m a fervent believer in the “No Child Left Indoors” movement to help reconnect with our natural environment.
3 Nov
Stakeholder Meeting on Collaborative Environmental Governance
I had my faith in humanity renewed last night at the open Stakeholder Meeting for the Collaborative Governance team in the Agua Fria National Monument, or more specifically the Horseshoe Ranch grazing allottment. The representatives from the BLM, the National Forest Service and Arizona Game and Fish were knowledgeable, professional, and good in their public engagement. The public turnout – with representatives from archaeological societies, environmental NGOs, ranchers, hunting groups, and others – was fairly large, well informed, and interested. The quick takeaway – people care and want to make a difference.
Big steps coming up – the resolution of conflicting interests, putting in place an adaptive management strategy, and starting to monitor and react to environmental changes. It’s an exciting time.
1 Nov
Scaling Up Common-Pool Resource Governance Theory
We recently concluded a wonderful workshop for the “Scaling Up CPR Theory” project. Representatives from around the globe participated, and we made substantial progress in database development, case coding training, and entering the data collection phase of the research project. The next few months will be critical for moving the project along, but I am excited to see the energy and enthusiasm for a long-term effort that parallels the ground-breaking work from “Governing the Commons”. Next step will be to have the group collectively code some sample cases and compare results for intercoder reliability.
21 Oct
Update from the Inter-Governmental Meeting on Adaptation to Climate Change
Based on the International Seminar on the Adaptation of Agriculture to Climate Change that I spoke at earlier this month, I must say that I was struck by two things. First, I was optimistic at hearing the representatives from the Ministries of Environment and Agriculture from 10 Central and South American countries discuss the urgency of preparation for climate change. Many spoke of noticeable changes at local levels that were directly and indirectly impacting at the scale of households, communities, and regions. Second, I was saddened to think of the current political landscape back home with pointless political debates that take the focus off of the real problems that climate change poses to our own communities. As evidenced by the 1000s of mayors signing on to climate change arrangements, local-level politicians see the effects at home.
Of course, I have no easy answers to this problem. What I spoke about was the need for appropriate responses at multiple scales with polycentric coordination between groups at any given scale across multiple sectors as well as linkages across scale. I also spoke about the need to shift our thinking about governance from one of government taking action to a more holistic vision of governance as one of responding to societal problems (like preparing for adaptation to climate change) through the coordination and collaboration of multiple types of groups – government agencies at all levels, NGOs, corporations, and civil society in general. Again, no magic bullets. But we can at least start with clear thinking.
22 Sep
First Keynote Speech
My most recent news is that I leave tomorrow for Mexico City to give my first keynote speech. The Inter-American Institute of Cooperation on Agriculture is partnering with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Environment of Mexico to host an International Seminar: Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change with the governments of 10 other Latin American countries.
My talk is entitled Working across Borders: Environmental Governance in an Era of Global Change.
The abstract is:
In an era of “concatenated shocks”, with increasing interconnectedness on a planetary scale through the globalization of trade and global environmental change, shocks to one part of a social-ecological system often ripple through and affect seemingly unrelated parts of the system. With this in mind, we need to think more about governance at broader scales than in the past, often beyond current political borders, boundaries, and barriers. By thinking about polycentric forms of governance, meaning a governance system in which multiple entities at a variety of overlapping levels coordinate to govern at the scale and scope of the problems, we can begin to address these concatenated shocks. However, to accomplish this requires re-thinking governance as the exclusive business of governments to governance as a partnership between governmental agencies from the local to the national level, NGOs, for-profit businesses, and civil society. This collaboration across a variety of land tenure and ownership arrangements is challenging and often reduces efficiency when compared with single entity decision-making. However in spite of the increase in transaction costs, collaboration enables governance at the appropriate scales, can increase participation and legitimacy, facilitate learning and the incorporation of multiple types of knowledge, improve monitoring and enforcement of rules, and ultimately improve social-ecological outcomes.
16 Aug
Concatenated Shocks
Exciting news regarding the “Concatenated Shocks” paper that was published earlier this year with Duan Biggs et al. It is getting acclaim in multiple places. First, we were asked for permission to republish with The Pelican Web of Solidarity and Sustainability. Then we were featured in the Stockholm Resilience Centre’s blog: http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/researchnews/aworryingchainofevents.5.17f61104130b69a66e6800017487.html.
Now we are being discussed by Andrew Revkin of the New York Times blog DotEarth: http://www.nytimes.com/dotearth
Wonderful job, team!
21 Jun
International Journal of the Commons now on Scopus
IJC will now be indexed on Scopus, the European version of ISI. That means we’ll have more readily tracked statistics for articles published with us. For those concerned with the tenure process, please note that IJC’s impact factor has been around 1.7-1.9 over the last couple years, which is very respectable within its peer group. IJC is a fantastic journal, has a stellar editorial board, and is publishing cutting edge, multiple methods research. I look forward to your submissions. And a huge thank you to Frank van Laerhoven and Erling Berge for their wonderful job over the past couple years to bring us to this point.
13 Jun
Latest Readings
Just finished a book, Transforming the Frontier: ‘Peace Parks’ and the Politics of Neoliberal Conservation in Southern Africa, by my good friend, Bram Buscher. I strongly recommend this book as a great critical overview of transboundary conservation. This book looks across southern Africa, but it zeroes in on the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Area at greater depth. The book takes a neo-Marxist perspective (is that fair, Bram?) at the intertwining of conservation and development and some of the problems that arise from furthering this agenda.
At the opposite extreme in the political spectrum, I just finished another book on baseball, Men at Work, by the conservative columnist, George Will. I was amazed at how well he knows his baseball, and I was equally amazed at the conservative political agenda that he was able to insert into a casual study of a sport. But regardless of your political predilections, this is a great read – if you like baseball.
Otherwise, I’m immersed in books on Sweden, in preparation for our upcoming trip. And for work, I’m digging into James Scott’s Seeing Like a State, which I’ve been meaning to tackle for some time. Seeing Like a State takes on the international development community and international aid organizations. Given Lyrna’s work with CARE in Ecuador and our time in southern Africa, I’m interested to see his perspective. Also, I’ll be interested in seeing how it compares with the views of Easterly, Robert Guest, and Paul Collier. I’ll let you know.
michaelschoon 