Sources of organisational resiliency during the Thailand floods of 2011: a test of the bonding and bridging hypotheses

Based on the Institutional Collective Action framework, this research tests the impact of two competing hypotheses—bonding and bridging—on enhancing organisational resiliency. The bonding hypothesis posits that organisational resiliency can be achieved if an organisation works closely with others, whereas the bridging hypothesis argues that such a structure places considerable stress on an organisation and advocates for an organisation to position itself as a central actor to gain access to novel resources from a diverse set of entities to achieve resiliency. The paper analyses data gathered from semi‐structured interviews with 44 public, private, and non‐profit organisations serving communities affected by the Great Floods of 2011 in the Thai capital, Bangkok (urban), and in Pathum Thani (suburban) and Ayutthaya (rural) provinces. The findings suggest that: organisational resiliency was associated with the bridging effect; organisations in the rural province were more resilient than those in the suburban and urban centres; and private and non‐governmental organisations generally were more resilient than public sector organisations. The findings highlight the importance of fostering multi‐sector partnerships to enhance organisational resiliency for disaster response.     

公众态度和机构监督对大气污染的影响

虽然以往对于环境库兹涅兹曲线（EKC）的研究中考虑了正式制度因素如政府机构监督，但是较少考虑非正式制度因素.本文重点检验两种制度情境的影响，微观层面的环境态度形成的非正式制度以及宏观层面的环保机构监督形成的正式制度对大气污染排放量的影响.基于CGSS2010-2013和2015年的数据库，从中提取出体现环境态度的问题，将其赋值指标化后，作为制度情境纳入环境方程.经过公开数据的收集，得到我国26个省份2010-2014年5年的面板数据.通过固定效应和随机效应模型，发现机构监督与人均GDP的交互项对氮氧化物、烟（粉）尘、二氧化硫排放都有影响，但是公众态度与人均GDP的交互项只对烟（粉）尘排放有影响，从而对不同制度情境下的环境库兹涅兹曲线进行了探索.     

Institutions, Forest Management, and Sustainable Human Development – Experiences from India

New institutional economists have argued that there are many categories of institutions, including market and non-market institutions, which may prove economically efficient, specifically for public goods and common pool goods. The Government of India introduced a non-market community-based institution, known as Joint Forest Management (JFM), for forest management and protection in 1990. JFM is a sharing mechanism for forest planning and management based on sharing of rights and duties, control and decision-making authority over forestlands, between forest departments and local user groups. By 2001, 42 000 Village Forest Committees established under JFM were managing over 11.5 million ha forestland. These institutions have proved very useful, and have contributed to forest management as well as four aspects of sustainable human development (SHD) – ecological output, income generation, village infrastructure development, and community empowerment. In the long-term, community-based institutions will prove to be a foundation of SHD and participatory democracy.     

中日韩循环经济政策比较研究

在中国经济迅猛发展的同时，投资主导型的经济模式中环境保护要素的缺失导致我国工业化发展旱、中期的资源、能源约束、效率低下和浪费严重。在我国实施循环经济刻不容缓。循环经济政策是依据不同的社会、经济和环境条件而制定的。由于历史的原因，中日韩三国在地缘关系、政治传统、风俗习惯、文化教育等内在制度和外在制度彼此趋同，反映在循环经济政策的制定、执行上也有某些相似的地方。对三国循环经济的历史和现状进行比较研究，得出有益于我国的经验，无疑具有很重大的现实意义。采用制度变迁的基本理论作为指导，运用历史研究法、调查研究法等方法进行研究，对中日韩循环经济政策演变的历程进行系统梳理和比较，深入全面地考量其指导思想和举措的选择动机，系统广泛地从多方面研究中日韩循环经济政策。并将三者加以比较，以得出对我国循环经济的发展具有较强借鉴意义的经验，更好地推进循环经济在我国的发展。     

Barriers to worldwide institutionalization of social and environmental disclosure

This study analyzes how groups of organizations that share their social and environmental information are formed in a similar way to identify barriers to the homogenization of social and environmental disclosure (SED) at the international level. Based on a sample of observations of listed firms from six different countries, results suggest that SED does not homogenize globally, spontaneously, because of cultural and geographical barriers. The institutions of environmental disclosure (ED) and social disclosure (SD) are different, thus forming different organizational fields at the international level. The spoken language is a barrier to the international isomorphism of ED and therefore to its comparability. However, language is a less important barrier to SD. When cultural institutions are weaker or have the same roots as North American institutions, cultural diversity does not stop the homogenization of the SD. Moreover, the ED is more isomorphic/comparable at the global level than SD, while the SD is more isomorphic/comparable at the level of culturally distinguishable subsets than ED.     

On the search for mimetic patterns in environmental disclosure: an international perspective

In this paper, we assert and test the proposition that environmental disclosure (ED) is structured by institutionalised myths and that is why ED is decoupled from environmental performance and media pressures. Focusing on firms from Canada, France and Germany, findings show that ED mimetic isomorphism for different topics varies among countries and by industry sensitiveness to the environment. The results corroborate the institutional presumption that institutionalised myths vary among different contexts. Our findings also suggest that institutionalised ED structures may not reflect environmental performance, mimetic patterns being affected by environmental performance. However, the decoupling between ED mimetic isomorphism and environmental performance decrease when firms’ ED credibility is questioned by the media.     

Bridging the financial gap in climate adaptation: Dutch planning and land development through a new institutional lens

Based on a case study of the Stadshaven port redevelopment in Rotterdam, this paper explores whether existing spatial planning mechanisms and processes can be used to facilitate local-level investment in climate-resilient public infrastructure and/or whether new processes and mechanisms are required to encourage investment in climate adaptation. The study reveals several key findings. First, a lack of conventional funding sources or formalised regulatory framework allowed room for experimentation with existing mechanisms and flexible strategies. Second, project planners are currently ambivalent towards introducing new mechanisms as a means to overcome implementation challenges. The case provides evidence about the role of the governance process, not simply as a means of system coordination that exists in isolation from institutional norms and values, but rather as a space for innovation, which can contribute towards reducing the financial gap associated with climate adaptation.     

The development of first-possession rules in US mining, 1872–1920: theory, evidence, and policy implications

This paper applies a property rights framework to federal mineral lands in the western United States from the enactment of the Mining Law in 1872 until the enactment of the Mineral Leasing Act for fossil fuels in 1920. There are two principal findings. First, the Mining Law appears to have been an effective means for assigning rights to mineral stocks on public lands (at least through 1920). This conclusion is supported by evidence from claim disputes in the West. Second, the impetus for the Mineral Leasing Act did not derive from the different physical characteristics of hardrock minerals and petroleum. The relevance of these conclusions to contemporary mineral policy is also discussed.     

Advancing voluntary chemical governance? The case of the Swedish textile industry dialogue

Voluntary environmental governance is a widely used policy approach that has been criticized for its lack of effectiveness. This raises fundamental questions about how to design processes that can advance voluntary programmes in a way that makes them more successful. In this paper, we analyse a government-initiated dialogue process to phase out hazardous chemicals through voluntary action by the Swedish textile industry. The analysis shows that information transfer primarily motivated business participation, while consumer pressure, regulatory threats and traditions of government–business cooperation played minor roles. The institutional design of the dialogue ensured close interaction within a homogeneous group, but collective actions were limited by disagreement about the problems to be addressed, prior unilateral environmental commitments by leading companies, and ambivalent engagement. This case provides valuable insights into the effect of institutional design on the actual interplay between business and government and its effects on voluntary governance.     

Learning for social-ecological change: a qualitative review of outcomes across empirical literature in natural resource management

Learning is considered as a promising mechanism to cope with rapid environmental change. The implications of learning for natural resource management (NRM) have not been explored in-depth and the evidence on the topic is scattered across multiple sources. We provide a qualitative review of types of learning outcomes and consider their manifestations in NRM across selected empirical literature. We conducted a systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature (N = 1,223) and a qualitative meta-synthesis of included articles, with an explicit focus on learning outcomes and NRM changes (N = 53). Besides social learning, we found several learning concepts used, including policy and transformative learning, and multiple links between learning and NRM reported. We observe that the development of skills, together with a system approach involving multi-level capacities, is decisive for implications of learning for NRM. Future reviews could systematically compare how primary research applies different learning concepts and discusses links between learning and NRM changes.