EAGER: Integrating the Analysis of Decision-Making in Meetings with the Analysis of Network Interactions in the Study of Environmental Governance

环境治理正日益从一种自上而下的方法（由官僚和科学家做出决策）转向一种“参与式”方法（由不同利益相关者群体的代表共同做出决策）。然而，事实证明，实现让所有利益相关者群体都有发言权的目标具有挑战性。关于平等主义决策实际上是什么样子以及如何实施的适当概念模型还有很多工作要做。大多数研究的分析要么集中在协商决策的利益相关者会议上，要么集中在影响这些会议决策的利益相关者网络之间更广泛的相互作用上。这些方法本身都有严重的局限性。拟议的试点研究的目标是发展一种新的方法方法，将对会议和网络相互作用的分析结合起来。由于计划的研究方法的复杂性和新颖性，该研究具有高风险，它带来了多个跨学科的观点来承担多层次的分析。如果成功，该研究将获得高回报，因为它通过平等地考虑制定实际决策的会议背景和塑造会议参与者对问题和彼此关系的理解的更广泛的网络互动，增强了充分理论化参与式决策的能力。拟议的试点研究将启动一条研究轨迹，通过概念化和传播更有效的“参与式”环境治理实践，从而减少利益相关者之间导致进一步破坏环境的棘手冲突的数量，从而有可能造福社会。研究结果也可能有利于支持“参与式”决策的其他领域，例如国际发展和社区卫生。决策实践的改进可以使许多生活受到环境和其他挑战影响的美国人受益，这些挑战正在由地方特别工作组、委员会和理事会解决。

Environmental governance is increasingly shifting from a top-down approach, in which bureaucrats and scientists make decisions, to a 'participatory' approach, in which representatives of diverse stakeholder groups make decisions collaboratively. However, implementing the goal of giving all stakeholder groups a voice has proved challenging. Much work remains to develop an adequate conceptual model of what egalitarian decision-making would actually look like and how it might be implemented. Most studies have focused their analysis either on the stakeholder meetings where decisions are negotiated, or on the broader interactions among networks of stakeholders that influence those meeting decisions. On their own, each of these approaches has serious limitations. The goal of the proposed pilot study is to develop a new methodological approach that integrates the analysis of meetings and network interactions. The proposed study is high risk due to the complexity and novelty of the planned methodology, which brings multiple, interdisciplinary perspectives to bear on a multilevel analysis. If successful, the proposed study will have high payoff in its enhanced ability to adequately theorize participatory decision-making by giving equal consideration to both the meeting context where actual decisions are made, and the broader set of network interactions that shape meeting participants' understandings of the issues and relationships with each other. The proposed pilot study will launch a research trajectory with the potential to benefit society by conceptualizing and disseminating more effective practices of 'participatory' environmental governance, thereby reducing the number of intractable conflicts among stakeholders that result in further damage to the environment. Findings could also benefit other fields that espouse 'participatory' decision-making, such as international development and community-based health. Improvements in decision-making practices could benefit the many Americans whose lives are affected by environmental and other challenges that are being addressed by local task forces, committees, and councils.