ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
The Engagement of U.S. Cities and the Global Warming Issue, 2005-2007
By
Toby Warden
Doctor of Philosophy in Social Ecology
University of California, Irvine, 2007
Professor John Whiteley, Co-Chair
Professor Oladele A. Ogunseitan, Co-Chair
This research focused on the engagement of U.S. cities and the global warming issue during 2005-2007. The policy outcome under investigation for this study was a complex, dynamic phenomenon aptly suited to qualitative research. A small quantity of key policy network actors in a subnational policy network and a large group of U.S. cities were examined. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, document reviews, and archival data analysis. With the assistance of computer-aided qualitative data analysis software, data were organized, managed and analyzed as part of the grounded theory method. From the data, 10 themes emerged characterizing municipal engagement on the global warming issue, and from these themes, a theory of governance was proposed, described and identified as viral governance.
This theory is used as an explanatory concept for the phenomenon of rapid mayoral engagement among U.S. cities on the global warming issue. The key policy network actors were able to steer and influence U.S. cities toward engagement on the global warming issue through an effort that became contagious. The conceptual framework of the social ecological paradigm was used alongside policy network analysis to analyze the ways in which key policy actors interacted. These interactions served to reinforce and advance the overall policy effort. This theory of viral governance (which addresses the "how" and "why" of municipal engagement on the issue) is based on the identification of paths of contagion wherein the policy mission self-replicated in viral fashion. This outcome occurred even without additional effort by the "governing" policy network actors. The viral governance model draws upon a key initial explanation of viral marketing.