Abstract
Most if not all environmental problems entail conflicts of interest. Yet, different actors and opposing coalitions often but certainly not always cooperate in solving these problems. Hence, processes of conflict and cooperation often work in tandem, albeit much of the scholarly literature tends to focus on either of these phenomena in isolation. Social network analysis (SNA) provides opportunities to study cooperation and conflict together. In this review, we demonstrate how SNA has increased our understanding of the promises and pitfalls of collaborative approaches in addressing environmental problems. The potential of SNA to investigate conflicts in environmental governance, however, remains largely underutilized. Furthermore, a network perspective is not restricted to the social domain. A multilevel social-ecological network perspective facilitates integration of social and environmental sciences in understanding how different patterns of resource access can trigger both cooperation and conflict.
Highlights
Here we argue for the utility of applying a social network perspective when studying how actors engage in cooperation and conflict in collaborative environmental governance (Figures 1 and 2; see the sidebar titled Social Network Research)
We propose that a social network perspective can help remedy this stalemate
Even though significant progress has been made in furthering understanding of how patterns of cooperative social relationships can facilitate collaborative environmental governance, very little is known about how networks of troubled social ties, such as conflictual relationships, shape governance arrangements and influence social and environmental outcomes
Summary
All this leaves us in a state of ambiguity. Is collaborative environmental governance an idealized but in practice unattainable approach to environmental management due to the existence of inherent issues of conflict and power? We argue against this interpretation. Here we argue for the utility of applying a social network perspective when studying how actors engage in cooperation and conflict in collaborative environmental governance (Figures 1 and 2; see the sidebar titled Social Network Research). An empirically observed social network of actors—trying to navigate a governance context where their interests and stakes in environmental resources are contested and/or threatened by overuse or degradation— could be interpreted, understood, and subsequently analyzed as the empirical fingerprint left by different social processes [73] In this way, social network research permits inferences about social processes that jointly implicate cooperation and conflict, where these processes can be understood in terms of if and how actors choose to cooperate (or engage in conflict) with certain others. In our review of recent work, consistent with our overarching aim to reconcile perspectives of cooperation and conflict in environmental governance research, we discuss studies where positive and negative ties have been examined in parallel. We conclude with a section discussing how this research agenda can move forward
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