David P. Carter

Capturing Structural and Functional Diversity Through Institutional Analysis The Mayor Position in City Charters

City charters affect the governance of municipal systems in complex ways. Current descriptions and typologies developed to study city charter structures simplify the diverse types and configurations of institutional rules underlying charter designs. This research note demonstrates a more detailed approach for studying the design of city charters using analytical methods based on the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework. This approach is illustrated with a pilot study of institutional rules in municipal charters that define the roles and duties of mayors. The findings reveal that city charters exhibit great institutional diversity, particularly within strong mayor cities. We conclude with a research agenda that could generate a more precise and rigorous understanding of the relationship between the different configurations of institutions of city charters and the politics, governance, and performance of municipalities.

Integrating core concepts from the institutional analysis and development framework for the systematic analysis of policy designs: An illustration from the US National Organic Program regulation

Public policies are structured by policy designs that communicate the key elements, linkages, and underlying logic through which policy objectives are to be realized. This paper operationalizes and integrates core concepts from the institutional analysis and development framework, including the institutional grammar, the rule typology, action situations, and levels of decision making, to provide a systematic approach for analyzing policy designs. The approach is illustrated through an application to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program regulation, which outlines an unusual semi-voluntary regulatory program that relies on independent third-party organizations for Program administration. The conclusion identifies opportunities and a research agenda for the institutional analysis of policy designs.

Service diversification and service quality differences in the third-party administration of US organic regulations

ABSTRACT This paper makes the case that ‘competitive third-party regulatory arrangements’ draw attention to the service provision aspect of regulatory administration. Using multiple methods, the study examines service diversification and service quality differences exhibited by third-party administrators of US organic food regulations. By examining how the service emphases of third-party regulatory administrators differ by organizational form, the study documents that the inclusion of nonprofit and private third-party regulatory administrators may expand the services that are offered and performed alongside regulatory program functions. The implications of the findings for regulatory administration, and the field of public management generally, are discussed.

An Institutional and Opinion Analysis of Colorado’s Hydraulic Fracturing Disclosure Policy

Abstract Hydraulic fracturing and oil and natural gas development are possibly the most contentious energy and environmental issues to face the USA in the twenty-first century. One point of contention is the disclosure of fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process. This paper analyses the Colorado 2011 policy requiring disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluid information, considered one of the first comprehensive hydraulic fracturing disclosure policies in the country. We conduct an institutional analysis of the disclosure policy to understand how the policy establishes information flows and grants and restricts choices by targeted actors. We then analyse the opinions of people actively involved in hydraulic fracturing debates in Colorado to assess whether they view the disclosure policy as resolving problems. The institutional analysis illustrates how the policy allocates responsibilities in sending and receiving information and the opinion survey shows divergence in perceptions of its potential to resolve problems associated with chemical use or disclosure. Most respondents are in agreement that the new policy failed to build public trust of the hydraulic fracturing process.

Intermediary Attributes, Regulatee Experiences, and Perceived Expertise in Third-Party Regulation

Expertise is a common rational for relying on third-party intermediaries in the administration of regulatory standards. Yet, little is known regarding how perceived competence varies across the diversity of intermediaries observed in empirical regulatory settings. This article offers a better understanding of perceived intermediary expertise through an examination of regulatee perceptions of certifier competence in the administration of U.S. organic regulations. From the results of a nationwide organic producer survey, the article concludes that what intermediaries look like matters less than how they fulfill their regulatory functions. These results suggest that diverse intermediaries have the potential to be similarly effective at supporting regulatory program goals, and that program credibility is not inherently threatened by an administratively diverse third-party landscape.

Assessing Rule Compliance and Robustness in Recreational Resource Management

To mitigate degradation of open-access natural resources, government officials and resource users often share responsibilities in monitoring and enforcing management rules. Common pool resource (CPR) theory provides diagnostics for assessing the robustness of such rule arrangements. In this paper, we employ CPR theory to examine co-management efforts involving a government land management agency and a climber advocacy organization in a rock climbing destination in Utah, USA. Based on interviews and site visits, we find variation in perceptions of compliance and moderate accordance with the principles of robust rule design offered by CPR theory. The contributions of this paper are both practical and theoretical. Practically, we identify potential methods for strengthening management strategies for an open-access natural resource. Theoretically, we explore the generalizability of CPR theory to a non-traditional CPR setting, offer precise conceptualization and operationalization of the CPR design principle components, and find elite influence in facilitating communication and collective decision-making in the establishment of management rules.