Mapping institutional work as a method for local strategy; learning from boom/bust dynamics in the Canadian west

Assche, Kristof Van; Gruezmacher, Mónica; Deacon, Leith

doi:10.1080/09640568.2018.1443800

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, dependence on a single industry leaves these communities vulnerable to dramatic fluctuations in the price of commodities, often described as boom and bust cycles ( Tokic, 2015 ; Mohaddes and Pesaran, 2017 ). During economic downturns (i.e., ‘busts’), communities experience spikes in unemployment and poverty ( Marchand, 2012 ; Jacobsen and Parker, 2016 ), out-migration of short- and long-term residents, a reduction in community support to vulnerable populations ( Graves et al, 2009 ; Van Assche et al, 2017 ), and an increase in mental health challenges among community members ( McClelland, 2000 ; Frasquilho et al, 2016 ; Virtanen et al, 2016 ). Economic ‘booms’ can also pose challenges to resource extraction communities, such as the rapid influx of workers overburdening community services ( Schafft and Biddle, 2015 ; McLaughlin et al, 2017 ), an increase in family separation resulting from excessively long work hours ( Markey et al, 2015 ), youth leaving school early to enter the industry ( Schafft and Biddle, 2015 ; Von Simson, 2015 ), and an increase in substance use and crime ( Luthra et al, 2007 ; Ruddell, 2011 ; Ruddell and Ortiz, 2015 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology

et al. 2021

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In contexts of exposure to atypical stress or adversity, individual and collective resilience refers to the process of sustaining wellbeing by leveraging biological, psychological, social and environmental protective and promotive factors and processes (PPFPs). This multisystemic understanding of resilience is generating significant interest but has been difficult to operationalize in psychological research where studies tend to address only one or two systems at a time, often with a primary focus on individual coping strategies. We show how multiple systems implicated in human resilience can be researched in the same study using a longitudinal, six-phase transformative sequential mixed methods study of 14- to 24-year-olds and their elders in two communities dependent on oil and gas industries (Drayton Valley, Canada, and Secunda/eMbalenhle, South Africa). Data collection occurred over a 5-year period, and included: (1) community engagement and the identification of youth health and well-being priorities; (2) participatory youth-centric qualitative research using one-on-one semi-structured interviews and arts-based methods; (3) survey of 500 youth at three time points to assess psychosocial health indicators and outcomes; (4) collection of hair samples to assess stress biomarkers (cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-DHEA) over time; (5) youth-led ecological data collection and assessment of historical socio-economic development data; and (6) community resource mapping with community elders. Analyzing data from these multiple systems will allow us to understand the interrelationship and impact of PPFPs within and across systems. To date, we have undertaken thematic and narrative qualitative analyses, and descriptive analyses of the preliminary ecological and survey data. As we proceed, we will combine these and grounded theory approaches with innovative techniques such as latent transition analysis and network analysis, as well as modeling of economic conditions and spatial analysis of human geographies to understand patterns of PPFPs and their inter-relationships. By analyzing the complexity of data collected across systems (including cultural contexts) we are demonstrating the possibility of conducting multisystemic resilience research which expands the way psychological research accounts for positive development under stress in different contexts. This comprehensive examination of resilience may offer an example of how the study of resilience can inform socially and contextually relevant interventions and policies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology

et al. 2021

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“…We see that its potential lies in explaining how diverse behaviours, both individually and interactively, influence institutional structures (e.g. Beunen and Patterson 2016;Bergsma et al 2017;Van Assche, Gruezmacher, and Deacon 2018). We do not argue that the concept necessarily has direct analytic value for explaining meso or macro patterns of institutional change and stability, although it does contribute novel insights, not least through emphasising the micro-dynamics underpinning broader patterns of institutional change (Bisschops and Beunen 2018;Vasile 2019).…”

Section: Analytical Implications: Explanatory Power and Positioningmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…On the first point, institutional work demonstrates that successfully realising institutional change is not just about introducing and promoting new innovations or reforms. It also crucially involves relating the proposed changes to existing structures, and the ideas of others (something particularly explored in Bisschops and Beunen 2018;Van Assche, Gruezmacher, and Deacon 2018;and Pittman 2019). In this regard, a focus on institutional work can provide creative and sometimes indirect ideas about actions that could be taken to promote an agenda (e.g.…”

Section: Normative Implications: Improving Environmental Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional work in environmental governance

Patterson

Beunen

2019

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

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In this Special Issue, we interrogate and evaluate the concept of institutional work in the domain of environmental governance, by bringing together diverse papers spanning a range of substantive and theoretical approaches. The papers apply the concept of institutional work across fields of regional development, water governance, climate change adaptation, and urban planning, and disciplines of planning, sociology, political science, geography, and anthropology. As a whole, the Special Issue contributes to a growing body of literature exploring the role of agency in processes of institutional change. This has implications for environmental governance scholarship, which emphasises the role of institutions across all scales from local to global and to understanding transformations in governance systems within which institutional change plays a central role.

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“…Both are necessary. Resilient governance systems make resilient communities (Beunen, Patterson, & Van Assche, ; Deacon, Van Assche, Papineau, & Gruezmacher, ; Van Assche, Gruezmacher, & Deacon, ).…”

Section: Resilience and Adaptive Governance: Reinforcing The Foundatimentioning

confidence: 99%

The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social‐ecological systems

et al. 2019

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Based on biological insights, Ludwig von Bertalanffy coined general systems theory (GST) and later expanded his perspective, exploring what GST could mean for other disciplines and other types of systems. We make a case for the relevance, or rather, the importance, of GST for coming to a new understanding of the resilience of social-ecological systems and the possible forms of adaptive governance that might increase such resilience. After analyzing the conceptual structure of the resilience paradigm and of GST, we identify concepts in resilience thinking where GST provides new confirmation or modifies the perspective: complexity, evolution, self-organization, and adaptation. We discuss post-Bertalanffy developments in the interdisciplinary and twinned fields of systems theory and complexity studies that can provide bridging concepts between GST and resilience thinking. In conclusion, we emphasize the need for both cognitive and institutional resilience to foster adaptive governance. We highlight the management of couplings between systems and the switching between forms of understanding and forms of organization, where self-organization and more centralized forms of steering can alternate and combine.

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Mapping institutional work as a method for local strategy; learning from boom/bust dynamics in the Canadian west

Cited by 14 publications

References 39 publications

Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology

Researching Multisystemic Resilience: A Sample Methodology

Institutional work in environmental governance

The social, the ecological, and the adaptive. Von Bertalanffy's general systems theory and the adaptive governance of social‐ecological systems

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