Orion Cuffe Ph.D. Student Department of Political Science CS 765: Complex Networks 10/12/2011 Assessing climate policy networks in Nevada resource management

The Problem What can be done to improve the climate change policy "infrastructure" of the State of Nevada?

(NSF Project # NSF EPS ) Derek Kauneckis, Ph.D. Dept. of Political Science, UNR Componenet Co-Lead

The Problem What can be done to improve the climate change policy "infrastructure" of the State of Nevada? 1. What policy “infrastructure” exists now? 2. How can it be improved? Network analysis?

U.S. Senate Voting in 2007 Adam Perer, Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland - HCIL

Climate Change: U.S. Groups in International Context Richard Rogers, Govcom.org Foundation, Amsterdam

Political Science & Network Analysis “Connecting the Congress: A Study of Cosponsorship Networks.” Political Analysis “Friends, Brokers, and Transitivity: Who Informs Whom in Washington Politics?” The Journal of Politics “Social Networks and Citizen Response to Legal Change.” American Journal of Political Science “Building Consensual Institutions: Networks and the National Estuary Program.” American Journal of Political Science “Policy Networks and Innovation Diffusion: The Case of State Education Reforms.” Journal of Politics

Climate Change & Policy Networks Policy networks are effective at:  increasing the sharing of knowledge between organizations  facilitating the coordination of activities  exploiting funding opportunities and sharing resources  building trust and reciprocity among policymakers and stakeholders (Agranoff 2007, Schneider et. al. 2003, Scholz et. al 2008) Impediments to leveraging power of networks:  difficulty of creating new networks  expanding existing ones in order to include relevant actors and stakeholders  improving communication gaps and bottlenecks (Considine 2009, Prell et. al. 2009) Sources Cited Agranoff, Robert (2007) Managing Within Networks. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Considine, Mark, Jenny M. Lewis and Damon Alexander (2009) Networks, Innovation and Public Policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Prell, C., K. Hubacek, et al. (2009). "Stakeholder analysis and social network analysis in natural resource management." Society & Natural Resources 22: Schneider, Mark, John Scholz, Mark Lubell, Denisa Mindruta and Matthew Edwardsen (2003) “ Building Consensual Institutions: Networks and the National Estuary Program. ” American Journal of Political Science 47 (1): Scholz, J., R. Berardo, et al. (2008). "Do networks solve collective action problems? Credibility, search, and collaboration." The Journal of Politics 70(02):

Climate Change & Policy Networks Climate change effects and consequences felt locally. Bulkeley, Harriet and Michele M. Betsill (2003), Cities and Climate Change, Routledge, NY. Local governments are key to climate policy process. Corfee-Merlot, Jan, Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Michael G. Donovan, Ian Cochran, Alexis Robert and Pierre-Jonathan Teasdale (2009), “Cities, Climate Change and Multilevel Governance”, OECD Environmental Working Papers N.14, OECD publishing, OECD.

Data Source Nevada Climate Change Survey of Public Organizations  Local governments  Regional governments  Non-governmental organizations  Business associations “Do you regularly meet with other organizations to specifically address climate change issues that affect your organization?”  “If so, which groups do you regularly meet with?”  “Are there any groups that you do not regularly meet with that you feel are important to include in climate change planning?” Kauneckis, Derek and Orion Cuffe “State and Local Government Perspectives on Climate Change Priorities: Results from a Survey in the State of Nevada.” Department of Political Science, University of Nevada, Reno.

Research Objectives 1. Describe the existing climate policy networks. 2. Use network metrics to find opportunities to improve climate policy infrastructure.

Metrics Overview Density Density differential Centrality Clustering Resilience / Vulnerability

Metrics Describe the networks that exist.  Within resource sectors.  Across resource sectors. Assess the density of existing networks.  Theory: Increase in network density = increase in policy effectiveness. Describe theoretically improved network. Determine density differential between existing and improved networks.

Existing Network Density: 0.20 Organizations with no ties in existing network: Existing Climate Policy Network in Nevada Water Management

Improved Network: Includes all Organizations Identified as Being Important to Climate Change Policy Improved Network Density: 0.45

Metrics Assess the structure of the network:  Within sectors vs. across sectors  Clustering The roles of actors:  Centrality  Betweenness  Brokers / innovators Identify likely obstacles to effectiveness:  gaps  bottlenecks  resilience / vulnerability

Figure 3: Improved Network That Includes all Organizations Identified as Being Important to Climate Change Policy Improved Network Density: 0.45

Shortcomings / Further Research Cannot fully know how effective a network is without knowing what is being shared in the network?  Knowledge  Resources  Funding opportunities  Trust / reciprocity Foundation for further research  Workshops  Interviews  content analysis

Questions? Comments? Complaints?