Moving beyond panaceas: a multi-tiered diagnostic approach for social-ecological analysis

The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework is conceptually simple, but theoretically rich. More recently, Elinor Ostrom developed a second, related framework, the Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework, that consists of the seven objects but that rests on a diagnostic logic. The role of institutional arrangements is not as prominent in the SES framework as it is in the IAD; the SES emphasizes the interactions between actors and ecological systems. This chapter describes the frameworks and how they support the development of theories and models through scientific inquiry. It compares the two frameworks, how they are similar, but different, and why that matters and examines how they have been used for social science research before concluding with assessments and future developments of the frameworks. The action situation is the focal unit of analysis. In most research projects using the IAD framework, multiple action situations are identified and compared. Action situations are structured by physical and material conditions, rules and community characteristics.

Fostering collective action through participation in natural resource and environmental management: An integrative and interpretative narrative review using the IAD, NAS and SES frameworks

A modified diagnostic social-ecological system framework for lobster fisheries: Case implementation and sustainability assessment in Southern California

Policy mix analysis has been applied in research on energy, climate, urban and transport policy, and more recently biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. However, policy mix analysis has thus far been employed at a high conceptual level, focusing on describing interactions between instrument types. Policy mix analysis rarely describes instrument ‘structure’ or functional characteristics in a way that would answer the question ‘what constitutes an instrument’? We describe how the rules‐in‐use taxonomy of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, developed for research on common pool resource management, can be used to characterize conservation policy instrument interactions. We demonstrate the approach on the well‐known payments for ecosystem services (PES) program in Costa Rica and cross‐compliance policies, arguing that PES is a policy mix rather than a single economic instrument. Our analysis shows how design features of PES described in the economics literature map to ‘rules‐in‐use’ in the IAD framework. The framework provides a terminology for defining what constitutes institutional context, comparing economic, regulatory and information instruments, and studying their interactions. The rules‐in‐use taxonomy of IAD is a ‘structural’ diagnostic approach, which needs to be combined with other tools that analyse the role and ‘agency’ of actors, as part of integrative environmental governance research. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Overcoming complex environmental challenges demands different forms of stakeholder participation and collective action. While informative and relevant for participatory interventions, the literatures on collective action and participatory governance have largely remained disconnected. We illustrate how the institutional analysis and development (IAD), network of (adjacent) action situation (NAS) and social–ecological system (SES) frameworks can be combined to provide a coherent approach that integrates these literatures, applies their insights and bridges this disconnect. We compare two similar participatory interventions, one in Colombia and one in Peru, whose design and implementation we supported. Transdisciplinary in nature, both sought to foster collective action for watershed management. The frameworks allow us to demarcate, characterise and reflect upon the action situations (ASs) for the collective choice, coordination and knowledge generation that constituted each participatory intervention (i.e. the constituent NAS) and other relevant operational and institutional ASs that lay outside the boundaries of the participatory interventions. These other ASs may not be linked to one another or to the intervention’s constituent NAS, but they influence the outcomes of interest nevertheless, thereby shaping the potential of the participatory interventions for collective action and sustainable natural resource management. The framework then suggests, and our comparative analysis illustrates, that organisers and researchers of participatory interventions, such as multi-actor deliberative platforms and transdisciplinary research projects, should carefully consider, reflect upon and address the constellation of relevant actors, ASs and contexts co-determining the outcomes of interest. Our study demonstrates how the IAD, SES and NAS frameworks can support that endeavour.

This chapter explores the potential of Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework as an actionable theory in guiding safety capability development for Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). It does so through the dynamic formation of action situations that incentivize and nurture the desirable capabilities for collaborative practice. A worked example is presented to illustrate how the IAD framework works for this purpose. Following an in-depth review on IPD and safety literature, which defined a set of safety capabilities for IPD practice, the system designer set up initial IPD-oriented game rules which incentivized actors’ experiences that nurture such capabilities. The reflective analysis results highlight three key perspectives in mobilising the IAD framework for safety capabilities development: (1) an organic power division between top-down design and bottom-up development of institutions; (2) an inclusive project front-end that involves actors in problem-framing activities; and (3) capabilities development as a process of shifting logics. Practically, the results inform effective training and coaching of practitioners at the teambuilding stage of IPD projects to configure safety as an integral attribute of the project system. Theoretically, the research contributes to the development of institutional theories in the project management context.KeywordsIntegrated Project Delivery (IPD)Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) frameworkSafety capabilitiesInstitutional logic

Institutional Analysis and Ecosystem-Based Management: The Institutional Analysis and Development Framework.

Research that employs the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework offers a theoretically rich approach for diagnosing and assessing public policies. However, the complexity of the framework, and its related theories, can challenge researchers interested in its application. This article offers a novel synthesis of the IAD literature and recommendations for how scholars can use the IAD to enhance the practical relevance of policy design research. In presenting these insights, we focus on three general themes including the IAD’s emphasis on self-governance, the core concepts and diagnostic approach of the IAD framework, and lessons from IAD research on contextually-specific institutional design. We conclude with a discussion of the boundaries of the IAD framework and words of caution when drawing lessons about policy design.

The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework allows policy analysts to systematically analyze settings in which actors interact and realize shared outcomes. In such settings, or action situations, social dilemmas often emerge producing undesirable outcomes. How collective action among actors in action situations develops and how social dilemmas are resolved through the adoption of institutional arrangements represent key lines of IAD research. Methods appropriate for examining interactions among actors in action situations, and commonly used by IAD framework scholars, are described in this chapter. Specifically, case studies, laboratory experiments, field experiments, agent-based models, and network analysis methods are presented. The basic features of each method, how each method is used to study action situations, recent advances in their application, and examples and illustrations of their use are described. How the methods may be used singly or together, and sources of models and data are also included. This chapter concludes by exploring new lines of research that promise to further develop new approaches for the study of institutional arrangements.

This chapter reviews why people design institutions to solve shared problems and what makes institutions work, focusing on Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) research. It extracts practical insights and research strategies from IAD scholarship framework and provides a brief background of the IAD's foundational concepts and the framework's theoretical and empirical underpinnings. It details the development of a novel synthesis of strands of IAD research that help translate the opaque language of the IAD. The chapter examines the research within the extensive IAD framework that has emerged over several decades as part of a larger research programme, often associated with the work of Vincent and Elinor Ostrom and their colleagues. It refers to the IAD's lessons on self-governance, core concepts and features of the IAD framework, and how IAD studies have produced contextually specific insights on institutional design.

Failures of drinking water systems in Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, were similar, other than their contextual situations. Each episode spurred media accounts and policy actions, but these may not address long-term systemic issues. Application of the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework can provide a repeatable approach to study such problems, and depending on its scope of application, can provide insights to patterns of interaction in critical action arenas where solutions must begin. The IAD framework evolved from work by policy scientists on a range of complex problems, and its use to analyze issues in Flint and Jackson explored its potential for addition to the tools of Integrated Water Resources Management. IAD can incorporate information from other methods and sources to enrich its knowledge base. For example, media attention highlights problems, and the case studies that follow can identify issues, action arenas, and players. Tools like systems analysis can be used to study the patterns of interaction in the action arenas and the feedback loops between them. Flint and Jackson require multiple solution approaches like these to address systemic issues. They should involve better utility management supported by political leadership and effective governance, as well as attention to equity issues involving human rights and responsibilities to pay for services. In shedding light on root causes of failures, IAD can help point the way to improving services despite formidable obstacles.

This article reviews and assesses Elinor Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and Paul A. Sabatier's Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to determine their usefulness to institutional economics with regard to the theory of normative criteria and policymaking. The conclusions are that (1) Ostrom's IAD is not of assistance to institutional economics, (2) Sabatier's ACF and institutional economics have four important ideas in common, (3) the different levels of normative beliefs found from ACF studies have not been integrated into institutional economics, and (4) the technological and ecological criteria found in institutional economics have not been integrated into ACF.

ABSTRACTHow can we understand intelligence assessments and intelligence work? The intelligence literature offers several plausible causes of failures and the consequences of such failures. However, there is a direct lack of theories or frameworks that connect these variables, that is, there is an incomplete understanding of both how those variables interact and their underlying mechanisms. Failures as such do only give one part of the picture. Why intelligence succeed is equally if not more important to understand. The military intelligence service from an institutional perspective may help to give this understanding.This study connects these variables with Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, which yields a model to understand the mechanisms of institutional on the assessment and lays a foundation for a common terminology. The study uses the Swedish military intelligence institution active in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2012 as a case.

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the governance structure of a successful community college and industry advisory board that collaborate to improve regional workforce development initiatives. The institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework was used as a lens to describe the partnership. The results determined that there were many informal rules that governed the relationship between the community college and industry partners, which led to successful implementation of decisions. The community college leaders created the informal rules with the purpose of encouraging involvement among industry stakeholders, sharing power among all the participants, and facilitating communication. The findings are consistent with the literature in collaboration. Frequent and open communication, outcomes that benefit all stakeholders, and other positive institutional designs aid in the success of a community college and industry partnership. Keywords: community college, collaboration, industry, partnerships, industry advisory board, governance, institutional analysis and development framework, rules, cooperation, regional workforce development .

Brazilian's framework of water and sanitation services (WSS) is complex, with several actors from different legal natures and varied rules. The new Brazilian sanitation law aims to achieve universal access to WSS and effective provision of services, encouraging more efficiency by promoting competitiveness. However, the regulatory governance of the sector poses a challenge to achieve these objectives. This article addresses identifying and analyzing the WSS structures based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework, which provides a multidimensional conceptual map that combines levels of macro and micro situations. Databases from the National Sanitation Information System (SNIS) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) were cross-referenced to evaluate the structures that exist in the provision of WSS, focusing on municipalities located in the metropolitan regions and urban agglomerations of Brazil. It is possible to conclude that the IAD Framework helps to clarify the actors, its functions, responsibilities, and the interactions between them, as well as the exogenous factors and how they influence the action arena, reaching recommendations, supported by a Delphi approach, such as to improve industry regulation in terms of governance and regulatory governance.