Collaborative Research: Boundary Conflicts, Collective Choice Institutions, and Conflict Resolution Mechanisms

美国的联邦政府制度要求国家、州和地方政府以及公共和私营组织相互作用，共同解决共同面临的问题。 就自然资源而言，如森林、河流和空气棚，一个政府无法解决超越其边界的问题。 因此，许多政府和组织开始参与自然资源管理。本项目的目标是探讨和解释政府和组织之间的联系和关系如何与资源管理冲突有关，并试图解决这些冲突。这项研究的研究背景是美国西部的州际河流契约。契约是由各州设计和采用的制度安排，以管理各州对共享河流的使用。 州际河流流域契约提供了一个很好的研究环境，因为它们在政府间环境中运作，突出了国家和地方水组织和水用户之间的跨尺度联系。 在研究契约时，研究人员将首先研究在这些政府间环境中如何产生不同类型的水资源使用冲突。 然后比较了契约管理流程和冲突解决程序如何促进这些冲突的解决。他们还探讨了当地水用户和国家机构之间的关系如何影响国家的能力，以贯彻他们在河流compacts.One的相互承诺，这项研究的主要贡献将是自然资源治理理论的进一步发展。被广泛认为对资源可持续管理至关重要的因素之间的相互作用和关系尚未得到充分的经验检验。探索和实证检验集体选择过程和冲突解决机制如何相互作用，以解决资源冲突，将提供一个更好的理解不同的制度形式的解决问题的能力。此外，而许多自然资源治理的研究集中在一个层次的治理，我们将推进文献中的政府间context.Broader社会价值：从实际的角度来看，这项研究将是有价值的水资源管理专业人士，如国家水权管理员，地方，州和联邦决策者。 首先，这项研究将提供一个相对完整的，详细的，系统的西部州际河流契约数据库，目前还不存在。其次，我们对州际河流契约的分析和评估将为联邦、州和地方水资源管理者和用户提供重要而及时的信息。 美国西部目前正面临连续第六年的严重干旱。州际契约正承受着越来越大的压力。 在接下来的几年里，西部各州可能会面临如何重新设计契约以使其更好地适应当前环境的坚韧决定。这项研究将为决策者提供他们做出这些困难决定所需的一些信息。

The federal system of government in the United States requires national, state and local governments, as well as public and private organizations, to interact to collectively resolve shared problems. In the case of natural resources, such as forests, rivers, and air-sheds, a single government cannot resolve problems that extend beyond its borders. Consequently, many governments and organizations become involved in natural resource management. The goal of this project is to explore and explain how linkages and relationships among governments and organizations relate to resource management conflicts and attempts to resolve them. The study's research setting is interstate river compacts in the western United States. Compacts are institutional arrangements devised and adopted by states to govern the states' uses of a shared river. Interstate river basin compacts provide an excellent research setting because they operate within an intergovernmental setting, highlighting cross-scale linkages between states and local water organizations and water users. In studying compacts the researchers will first examine how conflicts over different types of water uses arise in these intergovernmental settings. Then theyl compare how compacts' management processes and conflict resolution procedures facilitate the resolution of these conflicts. They also explore how the relations between local water users and state agencies affect the ability of states to follow through with the commitments they made to one another in the river compacts.One of the major contributions of this study will be the further development of theories of natural resources governance. The interactions and relationships among factors widely considered to be central to the sustainable governance of resources have not been adequately tested empirically. Exploring and empirically testing how collective choice processes and conflict resolution mechanisms interact to address resource conflicts will provide a greater understanding of the problem solving capabilities of different institutional forms. Also, whereas many studies of natural resource governance focus on one level of governance, we will advance the literature by looking at these institutional forms within an intergovernmental context.Broader Social Value: From a practical standpoint, this study will be of value to water management professionals, such as state water rights administrators, and local, state and federal policymakers. First, this research will provide a relatively complete, detailed, and systematic database of western interstate river compacts, which does not currently exist. Second, our analysis and evaluation of interstate river compacts will provide federal, state, and local water managers and users with important and timely information. The western United States is currently facing a sixth consecutive year of severe drought. Interstate compacts are under increasing strain. Over the next few years, western states may be faced with tough decisions about how to redesign compacts so that they better fit present circumstances. This study will provide decision makers with some of the information they will need to make those difficult decisions.