Richard Wesley Conference on Environmental Politics & Governance University of Washington, Seattle May 14-16, 2015

Sponsored by Center for Environmental Politics University of Washington, Seattle (http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/)

Agenda and Rationale Few will deny the importance of environmental challenges in the contemporary era. As scholars we are asked by policy practioners for solutions to environmental challenges. Universities increasingly are recognizing the immense interest among students for environmental courses. The Nobel Prize to Elinor Ostrom for her work on common-pool resources showed that international community recognizes the scholarly contributions of EPG scholars. Yet, and tragically so, EPG remains an under-studied area in political science and in other social sciences as well. One reason is that the study of EPG tends to take place in different subfields. This silo approach leads to inadequate sharing and accumulation of knowledge, and the tendency to work with issue-focused frameworks instead of generalizable theories. We hope this and subsequent conferences will motivate EPG scholars to advance theoretical insights, work with generalizable theories, and use cutting-edge empirical methods.

Why focus on politics and governance? Although there has been substantial progress in the development of technical and scientific knowledge about the causes of several environmental problems, the translation of these ideas into politically feasible policy regimes has been a major stumbling block. The repeated lessons of these failures underscore the basic point that environmental issues pose important political challenges that need to be addressed with equal footing to their economic and technical dimensions. This conference will provide a forum for EPG scholars to present research and develop research networks with the objective to push the frontiers of knowledge via theoretically informed, rigorous empirical work. The format of the conference will allow for substantial give and take, and opportunities to network with others.

Venue The 2015 conference will be held at the bucolic Islandwood conference facility near Seattle (http://www.islandwood.org/gatherings-and-events/lodging). With its majestic Northwest architecture and the location on Bainbridge Island, this facility provides an ideal venue for EPG scholars to meet, network, and present their work. Recognizing that conference participants confront issues of information overload and cabin fever, we will leave ample time for them to enjoy the beautiful Northwest surroundings. To top it all, the food at this resort is excellent, a testimony to the reputation of Seattle as a foodie city!

We will email information on logistics to conference participants in due course. For planning purposes, participants should plan on arriving by late afternoon on Thursday 14 May and leave on the morning of Sunday May 17.

Expenses This conference has been made possible by the generous gift of Dr. Richard Wesley, who is a longtime supporter and benefactor of University of Washington’s Department of Political Science and has a strong interest in environmental issues. Thanks to his gift, the Center for Environmental Politics will defray the following costs (for one participant per paper only).

- Lodging and food (3 nights, May 14, 15 & 16). - Economy Airfare and local travel expenses up to $500 for participants from North America and $1,000 for participants from others part of the world.

There are no conference fees. We have reserved a limited number of rooms in the Islandwood facility for participants. Should a co-author desire to attend at their own expense, please contact us upon acceptance to explore relevant options.

Process An international steering committee of leading EPG scholars will review paper proposals. Through a double-blind review process, this committee will identify the most promising paper proposals.

Paper proposals should consist of electronic submission of a Word document with a cover page listing authors, affiliations, and contact information; and up to two pages of a paper abstract that details the relevance of the work to the EPG literature. To submit your paper proposal, please go to the Center’s website (http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/) and click on “2015 conference” (top right corner).

We will consider work-in-progress only. Please DO NOT submit published, forthcoming, or accepted work.

Time Line: 1. Proposal submission deadline: November 3, 2014. 2. Notification of paper acceptance: January 15, 2015. 3. Arrival in Seattle: the afternoon of Thursday, May 14, 2015 4. Conference begins: evening of May 14, 2015. 5. Organized panels: Friday, May 15 and Saturday May 16, 2015. 6. Conference ends: the morning of Sunday, May 17, 2015

Steering Committee

Co-Chairs Aseem Prakash, University of Washington, Seattle Peter J. May, University of Washington, Seattle

Members Arun Agrawal, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Liliana Andonova, Graduate Institute for International & Development

                             Studies, Geneva

Thomas Bernauer, ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Xun Cao, Pennsylvania State University Ashwini Chhatre, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad Stephen Dovers, Australian National University Andreas Duit, Stockholm University Riley Dunlap, Oklahama State University Adrienne Heritier, EUI Florence Robert Keohane, Princeton University David Konisky, Georgetown University Wai-Fung (Danny) Lam, University of Hong Kong Mark Lubell, UC Davis Helen Milner, Princeton University Ronald Mitchell, University of Oregon Matthew Potoski, UC Santa Barbara Hugh Ward, University of Essex