CONTROVERSIAL FACILITIES
PUBLICATIONS ON CONTROVERSIAL SITING
Triggers for policy change: the 3.11 Fukushima meltdowns and nuclear policy continuity (Environmental Politics)
The 3.11 compounded disaster in Tohoku, Japan served as catalyst for some nations, including Germany, Belgium, and Italy, to alter nuclear policies but had no impact on the approaches of a number of others such as Vietnam, China, and Russia. Our article investigates why, despite facing the same focusing event, private- and state-owned utilities in some countries altered their nuclear energy policies while others kept the status quo. We use a mixed-methods approach to understand this variation in energy policy outcomes. Our quantitative analysis of 84 countries based on a new, sui generis dataset shows that Green Party vote share and strong voice/accountability are negatively correlated with changes in nuclear power programs while media openness and political stability are positively connected with atomic energy decisions. Using in-depth case studies of Germany and Japan we further explore the role of domestic political institutions and country-specific norms to show more precisely how actors interacted with ideas to influence energy decisions. This article brings implications for the future of energy policies around the world at a time when many hope to see a "nuclear renaissance."
All Politics is Local: Judicial and Electoral Institutions’ Role in Japan’s Nuclear Restarts (with Tim Fraser, Pacific Affairs)
Since the 3/11 compounded disasters, Japanese energy policy, especially its nuclear policy, has been paralyzed. After the Fukushima disasters, public opinion turned against nuclear energy while the central government continues to push for restarts of the many offline reactors. Based on nearly thirty interviews with relevant actors and primary and secondary materials, we use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and five case studies to illuminate the impact of conditions influencing reactor restarts in Japan after 3/11. We investigate which local actors hold the greatest power to veto nuclear power policy, and why and when they choose to use it. Key decisions in nuclear power policy involve approval from multiple institutions with varying legal jurisdiction, making vetoes the result of multiple actors and conditions. Certain legal and political factors, such as court, regulator, and gubernatorial opposition (or support), matter more than technical factors (such as the age of the reactor or its size) and other political factors (such as town council or prefectural assembly opposition or support). Local politics can stymie a national government’s nuclear policy goals through combinations of specific physical conditions and vetoes from relevant actors, rather than through the actions of local opposition or single “heroic” governors. Our findings challenge the assumption that utilities unilaterally accept a governor’s vetoes, but reinforce the notion that specific judicial and electoral veto players are blocking an otherwise expected return to a pro-nuclear status quo.
Taking the High Ground: FEMA Trailer Siting after Hurricane Katrina (Public Administration Review 2013)
Using data on more than 300 census blocks from across New Orleans, Louisiana, this article investigates two steps in the placement of temporary housing after Hurricane Katrina. First, the authors seek to understand the factors that determined whether census blocks were selected for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers. Then, in light of the widespread resistance to the trailers, they focus on variables that influenced whether trailers were successfully placed on those sites. Despite past research arguing that race, collective action potential, and political factors are the primary determinants of facility placement and the success or failure of the attempt, these data show that technocratic criteria dominated. Interestingly, although census blocks in less vulnerable areas were more likely to be selected as locations for FEMA trailer parks than ones in more vulnerable areas, it was precisely the former areas where siting success was less likely. Flood-resistant areas that decision makers chose for housing were less willing to accept such projects than more flood-prone ones.
The 3.11 compounded disaster in Tohoku, Japan served as catalyst for some nations, including Germany, Belgium, and Italy, to alter nuclear policies but had no impact on the approaches of a number of others such as Vietnam, China, and Russia. Our article investigates why, despite facing the same focusing event, private- and state-owned utilities in some countries altered their nuclear energy policies while others kept the status quo. We use a mixed-methods approach to understand this variation in energy policy outcomes. Our quantitative analysis of 84 countries based on a new, sui generis dataset shows that Green Party vote share and strong voice/accountability are negatively correlated with changes in nuclear power programs while media openness and political stability are positively connected with atomic energy decisions. Using in-depth case studies of Germany and Japan we further explore the role of domestic political institutions and country-specific norms to show more precisely how actors interacted with ideas to influence energy decisions. This article brings implications for the future of energy policies around the world at a time when many hope to see a "nuclear renaissance."
All Politics is Local: Judicial and Electoral Institutions’ Role in Japan’s Nuclear Restarts (with Tim Fraser, Pacific Affairs)
Since the 3/11 compounded disasters, Japanese energy policy, especially its nuclear policy, has been paralyzed. After the Fukushima disasters, public opinion turned against nuclear energy while the central government continues to push for restarts of the many offline reactors. Based on nearly thirty interviews with relevant actors and primary and secondary materials, we use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and five case studies to illuminate the impact of conditions influencing reactor restarts in Japan after 3/11. We investigate which local actors hold the greatest power to veto nuclear power policy, and why and when they choose to use it. Key decisions in nuclear power policy involve approval from multiple institutions with varying legal jurisdiction, making vetoes the result of multiple actors and conditions. Certain legal and political factors, such as court, regulator, and gubernatorial opposition (or support), matter more than technical factors (such as the age of the reactor or its size) and other political factors (such as town council or prefectural assembly opposition or support). Local politics can stymie a national government’s nuclear policy goals through combinations of specific physical conditions and vetoes from relevant actors, rather than through the actions of local opposition or single “heroic” governors. Our findings challenge the assumption that utilities unilaterally accept a governor’s vetoes, but reinforce the notion that specific judicial and electoral veto players are blocking an otherwise expected return to a pro-nuclear status quo.
Taking the High Ground: FEMA Trailer Siting after Hurricane Katrina (Public Administration Review 2013)
Using data on more than 300 census blocks from across New Orleans, Louisiana, this article investigates two steps in the placement of temporary housing after Hurricane Katrina. First, the authors seek to understand the factors that determined whether census blocks were selected for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers. Then, in light of the widespread resistance to the trailers, they focus on variables that influenced whether trailers were successfully placed on those sites. Despite past research arguing that race, collective action potential, and political factors are the primary determinants of facility placement and the success or failure of the attempt, these data show that technocratic criteria dominated. Interestingly, although census blocks in less vulnerable areas were more likely to be selected as locations for FEMA trailer parks than ones in more vulnerable areas, it was precisely the former areas where siting success was less likely. Flood-resistant areas that decision makers chose for housing were less willing to accept such projects than more flood-prone ones.
Rethinking Civil Society-State Relations in Japan after the Fukushima Incident Polity 45.2 (2013): 249-264.
The 3/11 combined disaster in Japan focused both Japanese civil society and government decision makers on the issue of nuclear power. Whereas surveys over the post war period indicated that many Japanese supported the growing role of nuclear power in Japan’s overall energy policy, the current crisis has resulted in a sea-change in public opinion. Even though some scholars have depicted Japanese civil society as comparatively weak and poorly organized, the disaster has stimulated citizen science, prompted large protests, and spurred many to challenge governmental authority. This article investigates the ways that Japan’s relatively stable patterns of state-and-civil-society relations have been reconfigured as a result of the Tohoku disaster.
Hatoko Comes Home: Civil Society and Nuclear Power in Japan (with Martin Dusinberre) (Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 70, No. 3 (August) 2011: 1–23)
This article seeks to explain how, given Japan’s “nuclear allergy” following World War II, a small coastal town not far from Hiroshima volunteered to host a nuclear power plant in the early 1980s. Where standard explanations of contentious nuclear power siting decisions have focused on the regional power utilities and the central government, this paper instead examines the importance of historical change and civil society at a local level. Using a microhistorical approach based on interviews and archival materials, and framing our discussion with a popular Japanese television show known as Hatoko’s Sea, we illustrate the agency of municipal actors in the decision-making process. In this way, we highlight the significance of long-term economic transformations, demographic decline, and vertical social networks in local invitations to controversial facilities. These perspectives are particularly important in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis, as the outside world seeks to understand how and why Japan embraced atomic energy.
Strong Civil Society as a Double-Edged Sword: Siting Trailers in Post-Katrina New Orleans (Political Research Quarterly Vol. 61 No. 3 September 2008 pp. 379-389). Initially published as a Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Working Paper 06-11, December 2006 (with Kevin Crook). To meet the standards for replication set by Gary King and other methodologists, the data for this study can be found at the Harvard University IQSS Dataverse.
To meet the dire need for housing created by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and the staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked to create lists of potential sites for trailer parks. This procedure took place within an environment of Not In My Back Yard-ism, or NIMBYism, where a number of communities and individuals expressed their opposition to hosting such trailer sites both publicly and privately. We analyze the final list of city-approved sites to track which factors were correlated with larger (or smaller) numbers of trailers and trailer sites per zip code bloc. Our data show that areas which displayed greater levels of social capital, as evidenced by voluntaristic activities such as turning out to vote, were slated for fewer trailers, controlling for race, income, flood damage, area, population density, and other relevant factors. Despite theories uncritically connecting denser social capital with more rapid rebuilding, areas of strong civil society weakened the city’s ability to recover quickly by forcing it to invest more effort in locating amenable sites for temporary housing.
Location, Location, Location: Selecting Sites for Controversial Facilities (Singapore Economic Review Vol. 53 No. 1 April 2008 pp. 145-172 ). To meet the standards for replication set by Gary King and other methodologists, the data for this study can be found at the Harvard University IQSS Dataverse.
While a large literature exists on the siting of controversial facilities, few theories about spatial location have been tested on large samples. Using a new dataset from Japan, this paper demonstrates that state agencies choose localities judged weakest in local civil society as host communities for controversial projects. In some cases, powerful politicians deliberately seek to have facilities such as nuclear power plants, dams, and airports placed in their home constituency. This paper then explores new territory: how demographic, political, and civil society factors impact the outcomes of siting attempts. It finds that the strength of local civil society impacts the probability that a proposed project will come to fruition; the greater the concentration of local civil society, the less likely state-planned projects will be completed.
Book Review of Regulating Infrastructure by Jose Gomez-Ibanez (Journal of Politics Volume 20 Issue 4 October 2007 pp. 703-705)
For Gomez-Ibanez, infrastructure provision is a problem of long-term contracting and he openly states his preference for private contracts in these sectors. He outlines four strategies for regulating infrastructure monopolies ranging from marked-based approaches based on private contracts, to concession contracts, discretionary regulation, and finally publicly owned and operated enterprises. Through diverse comparative case studies covering extended historical periods, Gomez-Ibanez seeks to demonstrate that non-market-based policies often result in market inefficiencies which undermine regulatory regimes as prices rise. In some cases, this leads to state intervention, such as the expropriation and nationalization of private enterprises. Although recognizing that not all environments are conducive to private enterprise, the book only details private market-based cases and not public enterprises.
Controversial Facility Siting: State Policy Instruments and Flexibility Journal of Comparative Politics, Volume 38, Number 1, pp. 103 – 123, October 2005
All states struggle to construct controversial facilities which focus costs asymmetrically on local communities while providing benefits to the larger population. The policy instruments employed by state agencies in carrying out these tasks and their plasticity under such pressure from citizens vary widely, with some bureaucracies remaining wedded to older, coercive tools and others developing new policy instruments which alter citizen preferences. The five books under review represent the newest literature that addresses the issue of state handling and management of contentious civil society. They inform our understanding of how authorities relate to opposition and underscore the need to analyze states not in terms of strength or weakness, but rather flexibility and rigidity.
The 3/11 combined disaster in Japan focused both Japanese civil society and government decision makers on the issue of nuclear power. Whereas surveys over the post war period indicated that many Japanese supported the growing role of nuclear power in Japan’s overall energy policy, the current crisis has resulted in a sea-change in public opinion. Even though some scholars have depicted Japanese civil society as comparatively weak and poorly organized, the disaster has stimulated citizen science, prompted large protests, and spurred many to challenge governmental authority. This article investigates the ways that Japan’s relatively stable patterns of state-and-civil-society relations have been reconfigured as a result of the Tohoku disaster.
Hatoko Comes Home: Civil Society and Nuclear Power in Japan (with Martin Dusinberre) (Journal of Asian Studies Vol. 70, No. 3 (August) 2011: 1–23)
This article seeks to explain how, given Japan’s “nuclear allergy” following World War II, a small coastal town not far from Hiroshima volunteered to host a nuclear power plant in the early 1980s. Where standard explanations of contentious nuclear power siting decisions have focused on the regional power utilities and the central government, this paper instead examines the importance of historical change and civil society at a local level. Using a microhistorical approach based on interviews and archival materials, and framing our discussion with a popular Japanese television show known as Hatoko’s Sea, we illustrate the agency of municipal actors in the decision-making process. In this way, we highlight the significance of long-term economic transformations, demographic decline, and vertical social networks in local invitations to controversial facilities. These perspectives are particularly important in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis, as the outside world seeks to understand how and why Japan embraced atomic energy.
Strong Civil Society as a Double-Edged Sword: Siting Trailers in Post-Katrina New Orleans (Political Research Quarterly Vol. 61 No. 3 September 2008 pp. 379-389). Initially published as a Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Working Paper 06-11, December 2006 (with Kevin Crook). To meet the standards for replication set by Gary King and other methodologists, the data for this study can be found at the Harvard University IQSS Dataverse.
To meet the dire need for housing created by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans and the staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked to create lists of potential sites for trailer parks. This procedure took place within an environment of Not In My Back Yard-ism, or NIMBYism, where a number of communities and individuals expressed their opposition to hosting such trailer sites both publicly and privately. We analyze the final list of city-approved sites to track which factors were correlated with larger (or smaller) numbers of trailers and trailer sites per zip code bloc. Our data show that areas which displayed greater levels of social capital, as evidenced by voluntaristic activities such as turning out to vote, were slated for fewer trailers, controlling for race, income, flood damage, area, population density, and other relevant factors. Despite theories uncritically connecting denser social capital with more rapid rebuilding, areas of strong civil society weakened the city’s ability to recover quickly by forcing it to invest more effort in locating amenable sites for temporary housing.
Location, Location, Location: Selecting Sites for Controversial Facilities (Singapore Economic Review Vol. 53 No. 1 April 2008 pp. 145-172 ). To meet the standards for replication set by Gary King and other methodologists, the data for this study can be found at the Harvard University IQSS Dataverse.
While a large literature exists on the siting of controversial facilities, few theories about spatial location have been tested on large samples. Using a new dataset from Japan, this paper demonstrates that state agencies choose localities judged weakest in local civil society as host communities for controversial projects. In some cases, powerful politicians deliberately seek to have facilities such as nuclear power plants, dams, and airports placed in their home constituency. This paper then explores new territory: how demographic, political, and civil society factors impact the outcomes of siting attempts. It finds that the strength of local civil society impacts the probability that a proposed project will come to fruition; the greater the concentration of local civil society, the less likely state-planned projects will be completed.
Book Review of Regulating Infrastructure by Jose Gomez-Ibanez (Journal of Politics Volume 20 Issue 4 October 2007 pp. 703-705)
For Gomez-Ibanez, infrastructure provision is a problem of long-term contracting and he openly states his preference for private contracts in these sectors. He outlines four strategies for regulating infrastructure monopolies ranging from marked-based approaches based on private contracts, to concession contracts, discretionary regulation, and finally publicly owned and operated enterprises. Through diverse comparative case studies covering extended historical periods, Gomez-Ibanez seeks to demonstrate that non-market-based policies often result in market inefficiencies which undermine regulatory regimes as prices rise. In some cases, this leads to state intervention, such as the expropriation and nationalization of private enterprises. Although recognizing that not all environments are conducive to private enterprise, the book only details private market-based cases and not public enterprises.
Controversial Facility Siting: State Policy Instruments and Flexibility Journal of Comparative Politics, Volume 38, Number 1, pp. 103 – 123, October 2005
All states struggle to construct controversial facilities which focus costs asymmetrically on local communities while providing benefits to the larger population. The policy instruments employed by state agencies in carrying out these tasks and their plasticity under such pressure from citizens vary widely, with some bureaucracies remaining wedded to older, coercive tools and others developing new policy instruments which alter citizen preferences. The five books under review represent the newest literature that addresses the issue of state handling and management of contentious civil society. They inform our understanding of how authorities relate to opposition and underscore the need to analyze states not in terms of strength or weakness, but rather flexibility and rigidity.