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Complex Governance and Coalitions in a Nascent Policy Subsystem

Nadeau, Jennifer
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0343-1450
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1718017712073939

Abstract Details

2024, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
The global food system faces a daunting challenge to feed a growing human population while simultaneously minimizing the environmental impacts of food production. The boundary-spanning, social-ecological nature of this system makes it a particularly valuable arena in which to study complex governance. As a focal point for this inquiry, I suggest that novel food production technologies may be seen as wicked problems in the study of food systems governance. For instance, an emerging food production technique called cellular agriculture has gained attention as a promising alternative to animal-derived meat production that may require significantly fewer resources. While cellular agriculture holds great promise in reducing the environmental burdens involved in producing protein for human diets, it also adds a layer of complexity to food system governance. There are several substantial challenges and controversies that must be overcome to realize the potential of cellular agriculture and doing so will require designing policies that consider a wide range of diverse actors with varied, sometimes opposing, interests. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) provides a strong theoretical basis to understand the actors involved in policy subsystems and how they self-organize into competing coalitions based on key policy beliefs. Yet, important gaps exist in ACF literature regarding how coalitions operate in nascent policy subsystems due to the difficulty in observing “nontrivial coordination” in these early stages. Consequently, there is scant knowledge about early coalition development and agenda-setting as well as broader emergent subsystem dynamics. One valuable way to address this shortcoming is by employing the study of discourse coalitions, or groups of actors in a subsystem who are linked through shared public positions on policy debates, which can lend useful insights into which sets of actors might become advocacy coalitions and how informal groups of actors can influence the policy process even in the absence of strong coordination. In this paper, I aim to answer three research questions: 1) What discourse coalitions exist in emerging cellular agriculture policy subsystem? 2) How much agreement on key concepts is present within the coalitions? 3) How much polarization is present between the coalitions? To answer these questions, I follow—and modify—a previously proposed procedure for measuring discourse coalitions (Muller, 2015). I begin by collecting newspaper articles about cellular agriculture in the U.S. that have been published between 2008 and 2023. Next, I use Discourse Network Analyzer (DNA) to identify and examine discourse coalitions that are forming around relevant issues (e.g., product labeling considerations, environmental implications, etc.). My findings reveal three key characteristics of discourse coalitions in this subsystem, and of the subsystem itself, that may warrant further investigation in other nascent subsystems: broad bifurcation of the discourse, clear polarization between the two dominant coalitions, and pronounced agreement on concepts among the coalition advocating for change. I also discuss the value of leveraging the concept of discourse coalitions in ACF scholarship. Namely, integrating discourse coalitions into the ACF could empower scholars to capture insights about early subsystem and coalition development, better supporting the study of coalitions across their lifespan from nascency to maturity. I conclude this thesis by situating my empirical findings in the complex governance literature with specific reference to how new policy issues may often represent wicked problems that add complexity to governance systems and how this affects approaches to governance in early subsystem development.
Ramiro Berardo (Advisor)
Jill Clark (Committee Member)
Matthew Hamilton (Committee Member)
105 p.
Public Policy; Social Research; Sustainability
Advocacy Coalition Framework, discourse coalitions, nascent policy subsystem, food governance, complex systems governance, discourse network analysis, cellular agriculture, cultured meat, alternative protein, sustainable food systems

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Nadeau, J. (2024). Complex Governance and Coalitions in a Nascent Policy Subsystem [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1718017712073939

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Nadeau, Jennifer. Complex Governance and Coalitions in a Nascent Policy Subsystem. 2024. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1718017712073939.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Nadeau, Jennifer. "Complex Governance and Coalitions in a Nascent Policy Subsystem." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2024. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1718017712073939

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1718017712073939
137
© 2024, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.