Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Community Responses to Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites

这篇论文的目的是确定为什么不同的社区在面对相同的环境申诉时会采取不同程度和类型的行动主义。该项目还有助于解释行动主义如何与环境政策结果相关。该项目的第一阶段是对面临低放射性废物处置场提议的22个社区进行定量研究。这一阶段对整个病例群体的各种因素进行统计检验。该设计考虑了独立变量，如不同的法律的和政策安排的情况下，各种人口特征（包括种族和收入），以及社会运动理论的关键要素（动员结构，框架过程，和政治机会结构）。定量研究也为后续定性阶段的案例选择提供了归纳背景。第二阶段包括精心挑选的案例，用于深入了解连接第一阶段确定的客观条件的社会机制和过程。该项目涉及危险废物处置设施选址的政策过程。在过去的二十年里，美国在很大程度上未能实施处理方案，以应对日益增加的危险废物。该项目的研究结果将解决有关选址工作的执行进展以及社区反应在这一过程中可能发挥的作用的关键问题。这一信息将与各级政府的决策者以及面临选址决定的当地社区和活动团体相关。其次，本项目提供了详细的环境正义分析。本项目的研究结果不仅关注环境结果的分布，还将讨论种族和收入在工地建设前的过程中所起的作用。最后，这个项目是政治过程方法在社会运动活动中的综合应用。研究设计操作化和测试社会运动理论的关键概念，包括：框架，动员结构和政治机会结构。定性研究将通过研究使社会运动理论的这些传统要素发挥作用的机制和过程来增加社会运动研究。

The purpose of this Dissertation is to determine why different communities respond with varying levels and types of activism when faced with an identical environmental grievance. The project also helps to explain how activism relates to environmental policy outcomes. The first phase of this project is a quantitative study of the twenty-two communities that faced a low- level radioactive waste disposal site proposal. This phase provides for a statistical test of a wide range of factors for the entire population of cases. The design considers independent variables such as the different legal and policy arrangements across the range of cases, various demographic characteristics (including race and income), as well as key elements of social movement theory (mobilizing structures, framing processes, and political opportunity structures). The quantitative study also provides an inductive context for the case selection in the subsequent qualitative phase. This second phase consists of carefully selected cases that are used to gain insight into the social mechanisms and processes that connect the objective conditions identified in the first phase. This project speaks to the policy process of siting dangerous waste disposal facilities. For the past twenty years the US has largely failed to implement disposal solutions for the increasing production of dangerous waste products. The findings of this project will address key questions about the implementation progress of siting efforts and the role that community responses may have played in this process. This information will be relevant for policymakers at all levels of government as well as the local communities and activist groups that face siting decisions. Second, this project provides a detailed environmental justice analysis. Rather than focusing merely on the distribution of environmental outcomes, the findings of this project will speak to the role that race and income play in the process that precedes site construction. Finally, this project is a comprehensive application of the political process approach to social movement activity. The research design operationalizes and tests the key concepts of social movement theory including: framing, mobilizing structures, and political opportunity structures. The qualitative study will add to social movement research by examining the mechanisms and processes that make these traditional elements of social movement theory work.