Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Greater Yellowstone Coalition and Environmental Politics in the New West

在美国，与环境政治相关的复杂政治进程涉及当地居民，包括物业所有者、企业和居民；从地方到州到联邦机构的政府机构；以及非政府组织，其中一些组织总部设在当地，但许多组织拥有地区或国家选民。学术界的注意力集中在所有三个一般群体上，尽管更多的注意力集中在地方和国家层面的互动上，而不是区域层面的政治活动上。这一博士论文研究项目将通过考察一个特定环境组织的目标、战略和代表性实践的案例研究，有助于更好地理解当代环境政治。总部设在蒙大拿州博兹曼的大黄石联盟试图影响这个正在经历快速增长的地区的公共政策，该地区的特点是不同的利益群体--城市和农村人口、长期居民和新移民、牧场主和环保主义者。这项研究将把该联盟置于这一区域政治中，并将对该联盟在过去五年中的活动进行详细分析。注意力将集中在三个相互关联的方面：(1)联盟的目标，这些目标是如何定义的，以及它们在多大程度上代表了联盟成员的观点；(2)联盟在试图实现这些目标时使用的具体战略(法律、立法和科学)，以及这些战略部署的不同空间尺度；(3)联盟在追求这些战略时使用的表现(特别是黄石国家公园、大黄石生态系统和蒙大拿州作为“最后的最佳地点”)。这项研究将包括对1,500名联盟成员(约占总成员的20%)的调查，对联盟领导人和工作人员的广泛访谈，以及对联盟过去五年制作的材料的仔细分析，包括通讯、广告、报告和法律文件。该项目将加强对环境政治机制以及环境政策如何从基层形成的理解。更广泛地说，它将有助于研究全球化时代的区域变化。大黄石地区生活方式和土地使用方式的快速转变影响着联盟的目标和政策，而联盟的活动有助于塑造变化的方向和步伐。因此，该联盟代表着已经成为重塑西方格局的积极参与者的区域组织，对其业务和行动的分析提供了一个镜头，通过它可以更好地了解区域变化的机制和进程。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

The complex political processes associated with environmental politics in the U.S. involve local residents, including property owners, businesses, and residents; governmental bodies ranging from local through state to federal agencies; and non-governmental organizations, some of which are locally based, but many of which have regional or national constituencies. Scholarly attention has focused on all three general groups, although more attention has focused on local-and national-scale interactions than on political activities at the regional scale. This doctoral dissertation research project will contribute to a better understanding of contemporary environmental politics through a case study examining the goals, strategies, and representational practices of one particular environmental organization. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, based in Bozeman, Montana, attempts to influence public policy in a region experiencing rapid growth and characterized by divergent interest groups -- urban and rural populations, long-time residents and new migrants, ranchers and environmentalists. The study will situate the coalition within this regional politics and will proceed to a detailed analysis of the coalition's activities over the last five years. Attention will focus on three interrelated dimensions: (1) the goals of the coalition, how those goals are defined, and how well they represent the views of coalition members; (2) the specific strategies (legal, legislative, and scientific) that the coalition has used in attempting to achieve these goals as well as the varying spatial scales at which those strategies have been deployed; and (3) representations (especially of Yellowstone National Park, the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, and Montana as "the last best place") that the coalition has used in pursuing those strategies. The study will include a survey of 1,500 coalition members (approximately 20% of total membership), extensive interviews with coalition leaders and staff, and careful analysis of the materials produced by the coalition in the last five years, including newsletters, advertisements, reports, and legal documents. This project will enhance understanding of the mechanisms of environmental politics and the ways in which environmental policy is shaped from the grassroots level. More broadly, it will contribute to research on regional change in the age of globalization. The rapid transformation of the ways of life and land uses in the greater Yellowstone region affects the goals and policies of the coalition, while the coalition's activities help shape the direction and pace of change. The coalition therefore represents regional organizations that have become active players in reshaping the landscape of the West, and analysis of its operations and actions provides one lens through which the mechanisms and processes of regional change can be better understood. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.