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Institutional networks and adaptive water governance in the Klamath River Basin, USA.
Citation:
Chaffin, B., A. Garmestani, H. Gosnell, AND R. Craig. Institutional networks and adaptive water governance in the Klamath River Basin, USA. Environmental Science & Policy. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 57:112-121, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
We use data from a qualitative case study of shifting environmental governance in the Klamath River Basin (2001-2010) to reconstruct the networks of formal organizations and stakeholder groups active during distinct phases of a transition in basin governance. We employ social network analysis tools to compare measures of change in the governance network over time as well as to further analyze network metrics—density and centrality—against the narrative of social change underlying the transition in governance. We conclude that an institutional social network analysis is an approachable and relatively rapid method to measure changes in social-ecological system governance, but to retain meaning and support theorizations of transitions toward adaptive governance, institutional network analyses should be dually informed by a qualitative investigation of underlying contexts including the social dynamics contributing to governance change.
Description:
Polycentric networks of formal organizations and informal stakeholder groups, as opposed to centralized institutional hierarchies, can be critically important for strengthening the capacity of governance systems to adapt to unexpected social and biophysical change. Adaptive governance is one type of environmental governance characterized by the emergence of networks that stimulate adaptive capacity through increases in social-learning, communication, trust, public participation and adaptive management. However, detecting and analyzing adaptive governance networks remains elusive, especially given contexts of highly contested resource governance such as large-scale negotiations over water use. Research methods such as social network analysis (SNA) are often infeasible as they necessitate collecting in-depth and politically sensitive personal data from a near-complete set of actors or organizations in a network. Here we present a method for resolving this problem by describing the results of an institutional SNA aimed at characterizing the changing governance network in the Klamath River Basin, USA during a period of contested negotiations over water. Through this research, we forward a method of institutional SNA useful when an individual or egocentric approach to SNA is problematic for political, logistical or financial reasons. We focus our analysis on publically available data signaling changes in formal relationships (statutory, regulatory, contractual) between organizations and stakeholder groups. We find that employing this type of SNA is useful for describing potential and actual transitions in governance that yield increases in adaptive capacity to respond to social and biophysical surprises such as increasing water scarcity and changes in water distribution.
