The structure of environmental governance: How public policies connect and partition California's oil and gas policy landscape.

In this paper, we ask how the written composition of public policies structure an environmental governance system. We answer this question using semi-automated text analyses of 22 state-level policies governing oil and gas development in California between 2007 and 2017. The findings portray an environmental governance system that is both partitioned and connected into different focal areas (called "targeted action situations") through certain actors, issues, and rules. We conclude with substantive insights about California's oil and gas governance system, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions for analyzing the composition of public policy to advance knowledge about hybrid governance.

Tempest in a teapot? Toward new collaborations between mainstream policy process studies and interpretive policy studies.

"Tempest in a teapot" is an idiom that refers to a problem that has been blown out of proportion, which is how we see the supposedly divisive relationship between two research traditions: mainstream policy process studies and interpretive policy studies. In this commentary, we explore both research traditions, comparing and contrasting their views of public policy and policy processes, uses of theories, and approaches to research. Our aim is not to unite them or reject points of debate. Instead, we offer strategies for more productive collaborations, including side-by-side research, integrative research, engagement in constructive discussions of research techniques, and applied research.

COVID-19 and the policy sciences: initial reactions and perspectives.

The world is in the grip of a crisis that stands unprecedented in living memory. The COVID-19 pandemic is urgent, global in scale, and massive in impacts. Following Harold D. Lasswell's goal for the policy sciences to offer insights into unfolding phenomena, this commentary draws on the lessons of the policy sciences literature to understand the dynamics related to COVID-19. We explore the ways in which scientific and technical expertise, emotions, and narratives influence policy decisions and shape relationships among citizens, organizations, and governments. We discuss varied processes of adaptation and change, including learning, surges in policy responses, alterations in networks (locally and globally), implementing policies across transboundary issues, and assessing policy success and failure. We conclude by identifying understudied aspects of the policy sciences that deserve attention in the pandemic's aftermath.

Perceptions and practice of waterbirth: a survey of Georgia midwives.

This study investigated the experience and perceptions of Georgia certified nurse-midwives about waterbirth and their level of support for establishing waterbirth in their work setting. A survey was distributed to a convenience sample of 119 certified nurse-midwives from the American College of Nurse Midwives, Georgia chapter; 45% of those surveyed responded. The majority of midwives had some exposure to waterbirth through self-education or through clinical practice. More than half supported the incorporation of waterbirth in their workplace setting. Maternal relaxation and reduced use of analgesia were perceived as the greatest benefit of waterbirth. Of 11 items related to disadvantages of waterbirth, certified nurse-midwives were moderately to severely concerned about none. The most concerning factors, with a mean of 2.4 to 2.5 on a scale of 1 (no worry) to 5 (severe worry), were maintenance of water temperature, physical stress on the midwife, and inability to see the perineum. Midwives' support for waterbirth focused mostly on the perceived benefits to the mother with little worry about the risks.

Stakeholder perceptions of scientists: Lake Tahoe environmental policy from 1984 to 2001.

What factors explain stakeholders' perceptions of scientists in environmental politics? Questionnaire data are used to examine stakeholders' views of scientific experts in the context of Lake Tahoe environmental policy from 1984 to 2001. Stakeholders' perceptions of scientists have remained the same over time - despite a shift from adversarial to collaborative policymaking and after decades of mounting scientific evidence showing water quality declines. On average, stakeholders perceive scientists with limited influence on Lake Tahoe environmental policy and view them with mixed levels of skepticism. Stakeholders' evaluation of scientists is best explained by their beliefs about development versus the environment. Stakeholders in favor of more land development express distrust of scientists and negatively evaluate university researchers and consultants. Stakeholders in favor of environmental protection are more likely to trust scientists and positively evaluate university researchers and consultants.