There is a growing recognition that public policy controversies are driven more by value differences than by technical deficiencies. Unfortunately, we have yet to develop, test, and refine systematic ...approaches for understanding political systems. In this article I explain how the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) can be used as a theoretical basis for understanding political context via a stakeholder analysis. An ACF stakeholder analysis widens the attention of policy analysts toward subsystem-wide dynamics with multiple actors who are motivated by their beliefs, structure their relationships into advocacy coalitions, and try to influence policy through utilizing multiple resources and venues. I illustrate an ACF approach to stakeholder analysis in a scientifically contentious political conflict over the establishment of marine protected areas in California. I conclude with a summary of contributions to the ACF literature and the strengths and limitations of conducting an ACF stakeholder analysis.
Institutions are vital to the sustainability of social-ecological systems, balancing individual and group interests and coordinating responses to change. Ecological decline and social conflict in ...many places, however, indicate that our understanding and fostering of effective institutions for natural resource management is still lacking. We assess theoretical and methodological challenges facing positivist institutional analysis, focusing on natural resource governance according to Ostrom’s social-ecological systems (SES) framework. Rather than adding more variables, progress requires a clearer, more consistent approach to selecting, defining and measuring institutional elements; stronger links between theory and empirical research; a greater focus on mechanisms and causality; and the development and application of new methods, including quantitative approaches. Strengthening the connections between theory, models, and data suggests several promising avenues for advancing institutional analysis through the study of relationships between institutional structure, process, function, context, and outcomes.
While most of the network literature focuses on information and advice networks, there is increasing interest—particularly among Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) scholars—on ally networks and ...coordination networks. This article asks two basic questions: First, do information, ally, and coordination networks overlap with each other? Second, and drawing from the ACF, do policy core beliefs structure the interactions in ally, coordination, and advice/information networks? We pursue these research questions in the context of the California Marine Life Protection Act process. We find that ally and coordination networks overlap slightly more than information/advice networks and that policy core beliefs do a better job of predicting ally and coordination networks than advice/information networks. Thus, we show that ally networks can provide a useful proxy for coordination networks to identify advocacy coalitions.
The first attempt to implement the 1999 California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) ended contentiously in 2002. The initial MLPA process is examined by a ...statutory analysis and an analysis of stakeholder network relationships and beliefs. The failure of the initial MLPA process can be understood by a combination of factors: (i) Insufficient financial support from the California State government; (ii) Unclear, unranked and inconsistent statutory objectives; (iii) The application of a science-based process that excluded affected stakeholders; (iv) Implementing officials who lacked expertise in designing and managing political processes; and (v) A community of stakeholders who were polarized into coalitions of proponents and opponents of MPAs. The article concludes by discussing limitations of its methods and analysis and by offering strategies for learning from policy failures.
Identifying the signaling mechanisms that regulate adult neurogenesis is essential to understanding how the brain may respond to neuro‐inflammatory events. P2X7 receptors can regulate ...pro‐inflammatory responses, and in addition to their role as cation channels they can trigger cell death and mediate phagocytosis. How P2X7 receptors may regulate adult neurogenesis is currently unclear. Here, neural progenitor cells (NPCs) derived from adult murine hippocampal subgranular (SGZ) and cerebral subventricular (SVZ) zones were utilized to characterize the roles of P2X7 in adult neurogenesis, and assess the effects of high extracellular ATP, characteristic of inflammation, on NPCs. Immunocytochemistry found NPCs in vivo and in vitro expressed P2X7, and the activity of P2X7 in culture was demonstrated using calcium influx and pore formation assays. Live cell and confocal microscopy, in conjunction with flow cytometry, revealed P2X7+ NPCs were able to phagocytose fluorescent beads, and this was inhibited by ATP, indicative of P2X7 involvement. Furthermore, P2X7 receptors were activated with ATP or BzATP, and 5‐ethynyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (EdU) used to observe a dose‐dependent decrease in NPC proliferation. A role for P2X7 in decreased NPC proliferation was confirmed using chemical inhibition and NPCs from P2X7−/− mice. Together, these data present three distinct roles for P2X7 during adult neurogenesis, depending on extracellular ATP concentrations: (a) P2X7 receptors can form transmembrane pores leading to cell death, (b) P2X7 receptors can regulate rates of proliferation, likely via calcium signaling, and (c) P2X7 can function as scavenger receptors in the absence of ATP, allowing NPCs to phagocytose apoptotic NPCs during neurogenesis. Stem Cells 2018;36:1764–1777
We demonstrate P2X7 could have multiple roles in adult neurogenesis. As a calcium channel, P2X7 signaling may negatively regulate neural progenitor cell proliferation, whereas retaining its canonical role as a death receptor via the formation of transmembrane pores. P2X7 may also contribute to niche maintenance by facilitating phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. This has implications for neurogenesis given the presence of inflammation and extracellular ATP.
About two decades ago, Paul Sabatier (1991) urged scholars to develop better theories and empirics for understanding policy processes. Sabatier's proposition, in collaboration with Hank ...Jenkins-Smith, became the advocacy coalition framework (ACF). The original version of the ACF sought to make important contributions to the policy process literature by responding to several perceived needs: a need to take longer-term time perspectives to understand policy change; a need for a more complex view of subsystems to include both researchers and intergovernmental relations; a need for more attention to the role of science and policy analysis in public policy; and a need for a more realistic model of the individual rooted more deeply in psychology rather than microeconomics. This article introduces a special edition of this journal that offers a collection of eight ACF applications that continue to test and develop the theories within the framework. Adapted from the source document.
The move towards collaborative governance in environmental policy often takes the form of collaborative partnerships involving multiple stakeholders with divergent beliefs and interests. Within such ...partnerships, stakeholders selectively coordinate with one another to varying degrees to achieve both individual and shared objectives. Using interview and questionnaire data from 10 US marine aquaculture partnerships in 2009–2011, we test three theoretical hypotheses regarding how individuals within collaborative partnerships decide with whom to coordinate. These competing propositions include belief homophily (individuals will coordinate with whom they share beliefs), trust (individuals will coordinate with those whom they trust), and resources (individuals will coordinate with those who hold critical resources). Results suggest that specific aspects of trust and resources are more important than shared beliefs in driving coordination in marine aquaculture partnerships. This finding qualifies previous studies that identified shared beliefs as a driving factor. This study concludes with a theoretical discussion about the explanatory boundaries of belief homophily.
DGIdb: mining the druggable genome Griffith, Malachi; Griffith, Obi L; Coffman, Adam C ...
Nature methods,
12/2013, Letnik:
10, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Drug-Gene Interaction database (DGIdb) mines existing resources that generate hypotheses about how mutated genes might be targeted therapeutically or prioritized for drug development. It provides ...an interface for searching lists of genes against a compendium of drug-gene interactions and potentially 'druggable' genes. DGIdb can be accessed at http://dgidb.org/.
Updating the Institutional Collective Action Framework Kim, Serena Y.; Swann, William L.; Weible, Christopher M. ...
Policy studies journal,
February 2022, 2022-02-00, 20220201, Letnik:
50, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Institutional Collective Action (ICA) framework has contributed to understanding collective action problems in fragmented governance and identified mechanisms for overcoming them. Participation ...in collaboration is risky––even if it has the potential to make all parties better off. This framework has uniquely shown how collaboration risk and other transaction costs can be overcome to create effective collaborations for addressing complex policy issues. However, after over a decade of use, the framework is due for critical evaluation and articulation of its state of the art and science to better inform future scholarship. For this purpose, this article defines key concepts and formulates assumptions, as well as reviews the empirical contributions and longstanding limitations of the ICA framework. A robust agenda for future research is also outlined. To move forward, we believe ICA research should focus on the foundational core of the ICA framework, maintain flexibility in explanatory models, and expand the scope beyond the collective action problems at the local level.
摘要
制度化集体行动（ICA）框架已推动理解碎片化治理中的集体行动问题，并识别了用于克服该问题的相关机制。参与协作是存在风险的，即住其有潜力让所有参与方都受益。ICA框架以一种独特的方式表明，协作风险和其他交易成本如何能被克服，以产生应对复杂政策议题的有效协作。然而，在超过十年的住用后，该框架需要经过关键评估，阐明其最新的方法和科学，以期更好地影响未来学术研究。为此，本文定义了关键概念，提出了相关假设，并审视了ICA框架的实证贡献和长期限制。本文还概述了一项用于未来研究的稳健议程。未来研究中，我们认为ICA研究应聚焦于ICA框架的基本核心，保持解释性模型的灵活性，并扩大研究范围，不局限于地方层面的集体行动问题。
Resumen
El marco de Acción Colectiva Institucional (ACI) ha contribuido a comprender los problemas de acción colectiva en la gobernanza fragmentada y los mecanismos identificados para superarlos. La participación en la colaboración es arriesgada, incluso si tiene el potencial de mejorar la situación de todas las partes. Este marco ha demostrado de manera única cómo se pueden superar el riesgo de colaboración y otros costos de transacción para crear colaboraciones efectivas para abordar problemas complejos de políticas. Sin embargo, después de más de una década de uso, el marco se debe a la evaluación crítica y la articulación de su estado del arte y la ciencia para informar mejor la futura beca. Para este propósito, este artículo define conceptos clave y formula supuestos, así como también revisa las contribuciones empíricas y las limitaciones de larga data del marco de ICA. También se describe una agenda sólida para futuras investigaciones. Para avanzar, creemos que la investigación de ICA debe centrarse en el núcleo fundamental del marco de ICA, mantener la flexibilidad en los modelos explicativos y expandir el alcance más allá de los problemas de acción colectiva a nivel local.
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