Collaborative Research: The U.S. Environmental Risk Policy Network

风险的概念和正式的工具，如风险分析，已经成为环境和技术政策的核心。在环境政策中使用风险概念是一项由政策网络成员开展的活动，重点是但不限于华盛顿特区。本项目调查了风险分析师政策网络的成员，以解决两个中心研究问题：*美国环境风险政策网络是如何构建的？网络分析的进步使研究小组能够确定网络的边界、行动者在其中的位置，以及假设影响政策结果的基本结构特征。*哪些因素影响了美国环境风险政策网络的结构？网络模型有助于确定所观察到的网络产生的过程。这为推动政策网络自我组织的基本原理提供了重要的、与理论相关的见解。这项研究包括将收集的新数据与两个先前的数据集合并，一个是在20世纪80年代初收集的（当时政策风险方法相对较新），另一个是在2000年前后收集的较小的复制数据集。这使得对同一网络中随时间变化的分析成为可能，这一主题在风险或政策网络文献中尚未得到广泛研究。风险分析是一套分析工具，已成为讨论环境和技术政策的核心特征。风险是科学信息进入政策辩论的一个关键途径。风险专家网络开展风险分析工作，并参与政策辩论。通过更好地了解这些专业人士及其网络，我们可以深入了解科学如何有助于制定政策。此外，通过这些专业人士了解科学和其他类型的信息的流动？网络将有助于发展加强通信和在决策中有效利用科学。

Concepts of risk and formal tools such as risk analysis have become central to environmental and technology policy. The use of risk concepts in environmental policy is an activity carried out by members of a policy network focused in, but not limited to, Washington, DC. This project surveys the members of the policy network of risk analysts in order to address two central research questions: * How is the U.S. environmental risk policy network structured? Advances in network analysis allow the research team to identify the boundaries of the network, the position of actors within it, and essential structural features hypothesized to influence policy outcomes. * What factors have influenced the structure of the U.S. environmental risk policy network? Network models facilitate determining the processes by which the observed network is generated. This lends important, theoretically-relevant insights into the rationales that drive the self-organization of policy networks. The research includes the merging of the new data to be collected with two prior datasets, one collected during the early 1980s (when risk approaches to policy were relatively new) and one smaller replication collected circa 2000. The enables an analysis of changes over time in the same network, a subject that has not been extensively studied in the risk or policy networks literature. Risk analysis is a set of analytic tools that has become a central feature in discussions of environmental and technology policies. Risk is a key way in which scientific information enters into policy debates. A network of risk professionals carries out the work of risk analysis and engages in policy debates. By better understanding these professionals and their networks, we can gain insights into how science contributes to shaping policy. Moreover, understanding the flows of scientific and other kinds of information through these professionals? networks will contribute to the development of enhanced communication and the effective use of science in decision making.