Graeme Auld

Director of the School of Public Policy and Administration  and Associate Professor

Graeme’s research focuses on comparative environmental politics and policy, global environmental governance, and the rise of private governance and authority. Much of his work examines the formation, evolution, and impacts of non-state and hybrid forms of global governance across economic sectors. He also researches the design and efficacy of policy aimed at tackling global problems such as climate change.

I grew up in BC and attended UBC in the early 1990s, just as disputes over logging coastal BC forests were capturing national and international attention. The conflict grabbed my interest. I was left pondering the causes of what appeared to be an intractable disagreement over how resources ought to be managed and protected. In the years since, I’ve studied the politics surrounding the use, management, and conservation of resources and the environment across geographic scales. I have paid particular attention to the rise of private certification programs – initiatives like fairtrade – that set standards for responsible business practice and award compliant companies with reputational or market benefits. Where have these initiatives come from? How do they work? Why do companies adhere to their rules? How do they establish their authority and legitimacy? What problems are they likely to solve? I use qualitative and quantitative data and methods to study these kinds of questions, with the aim of understanding how private governance compares to traditional forms of public policy, how the two interact, and what all of this might mean for attempts to govern our collective human footprint.

Affiliations

Cross Appointment, Institute of Political Economic, Carleton University

Research Fellow, Carleton Centre for Community Innovation, Carleton University

Faculty Affiliate, Governance, Environment and Markets (GEM) Initiative, Yale University

Selected Recent Publications

Graeme Auld and Stefan Renckens Forthcoming “Private Sustainability Governance, the Global South and COVID-19: Are Changes to Audit Policies in light of the Pandemic Exacerbating Existing Inequalities?” World Development

Hayley Stevenson, Graeme Auld, Jen Iris Allan, Lorraine Elliott, and James Meadowcroft, Forthcoming “The Practical Fit of Concepts: Ecosystem Services and the Value of Nature” Global Environmental Politics

Stefan Renckens and Graeme Auld 2020 “Time to Certify: Explaining Varying Efficiency of Private Regulatory Audits” Regulation & Governance

Steven J. Cooke, Trina Rytwinski, Jessica J. Taylor, Elizabeth Nyboer, Vivian M. Nguyen, Joseph R. Bennett, Nathan Young, Susan Aitken, Graeme Auld, John-Francis Lane, Kent Prior, Karen E. Smokorowski, Paul A. Smith, Aerin L. Jacob, David Brown, Jules M. Blais, Jeremy T. Kerr, Banu Ormeci, Steven M. Alexander, Christopher R. Burn, Rachel T. Buxton, Diane M. Orihel, Jesse Vermaire, Dennis L. Murray, Patrice Simon, Kate Edwards, John Clarke, Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, Irene Gregory-Eaves, Elena M. Bennett, and John P. Smol. 2020 “On “success” in applied environmental research – What is it, how can it be achieved, and how does one know when it has been achieved?” Environmental Reviews

Janina Grabs, Graeme Auld, and Benjamin Cashore 2020 “Private Regulation, Public Policy, and the Perils of Adverse Ontological Selection” Regulation & Governance

Graeme Auld, 2020 “Transforming Markets? Activists’ Strategic Engagement with Private Governance” Organization and Environment 33(1): 31-55

Leslie Pal, Graeme Auld and Alexandra Mallett, 2020. Beyond Policy Analysis: Public Issue Management in Turbulent Times, sixth edition, Nelson Publishing

Luc Fransen, Jelmer Schalk, and Graeme Auld, 2020 “Community Structure and the Behavior of Transnational Sustainability Governors: Towards a Multi-Relational Approach” Regulation & Governance 14(1): 3-25

Stefan Renckens and Graeme Auld, 2019 “Structure, Path Dependence, and Adaptation: North-South Imbalances in Transnational Private Fisheries Governance” Ecological Economics 106: 106422

Philip Schleifer, Matteo Fiorini, and Graeme Auld 2019 “Transparency in Transnational Governance: The Determinants of Information Disclosure of Voluntary Sustainability Programs” Regulation & Governance 13(4): 488-506

Luc Fransen, Jelmer Schalk, Marcel Kok, Vivek Voora, Jason Potts, Max Joosten, Philip Schleifer, and Graeme Auld, 2018 “Biodiversity Protection through Networks of Voluntary Sustainability Standard Organizations?” Sustainability 10(12), 4379

Graeme Auld, Michele Betsill, and Stacy VanDeveer, 2018 “Transnational Governance for Mining and the Minerals Lifecycle” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43: 425-453

Luc Fransen, Jelmer Schalk, and Graeme Auld, 2018 “Community Structure and the Behavior of Transnational Sustainability Governors: Towards a Multi-Relational Approach” Regulation & Governance

Bryan Foster, Deane Wang, Graeme Auld, and Rosa Maria Roman Cueste, 2017 “Assessing Audit Impact and Thoroughness of VCS Forest Carbon Offset Projects” Environmental Science and Policy 78(December): 121-141

Kendra Sakaguchi, Anil Varughese, Graeme Auld, 2017 “Climate Wars? A Systematic Review of Empirical Analyses on the Links between Climate Change and Violent Conflict” International Studies Review

Jessica F. Green and Graeme Auld, Forthcoming 2017 “Unbundling the Regime Complex: The Effects of Private Authority” Transnational Environmental Law 6(2): 259-284

Lars H. Gulbrandsen and Graeme Auld, 2016 “Contested Accountability Logics in Evolving Nonstate Certification for Fisheries Sustainability” Global Environmental Politics 16(2): 42-60

Luc Fransen, Jelmer Schalk, and Graeme Auld, 2016 “Work Ties Beget Community? Assessing Interactions among Transnational Private Governance Organizations in Sustainable Agriculture” Global Networks 16(1): 45-67

Graeme Auld, 2015 “Certification as Governance” in M. Dubnick and D. Bearfield (eds.) Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy, Taylor and Francis

Graeme Auld and Lars H. Gulbrandsen, 2015 “Diversifying Nature Protection: Evaluating the Changing Tools for Forest Protection in Canada and Norway” Review of Policy Research 32(6): 699-722

Urs Dieterich and Graeme Auld, 2015 “Moving Beyond Commitments: Creating Durable Change through the Implementation of Asia Pulp and Paper’s Forest Conservation Policy” Journal of Cleaner Production 107 (November): 54-63

Graeme Auld, Stefan Renckens, and Benjamin Cashore, 2015 “Transnational Private Governance between the Logics of Empowerment and Control” Regulation and Governance 9(2): 108-124

Bruce Doern, Graeme Auld and Christopher Stoney, 2015 Green-lite: Complexity in Fifty Years of Canadian Environmental Policy, Governance, and Democracy, McGill-Queen’s University Press: Montreal, Kingston

Graeme Auld, 2014 Constructing Private Governance: The Rise and Evolution of Forest, Coffee, and Fisheries Certification, Yale University Press: New Haven.

Graeme Auld, Alexandra Mallett, Bozica Burlica, Francis Nolan-Poupart, and Robert Slater, 2014 “Evaluating the effects of policy innovations: Lessons from a systematic review of policies promoting low-carbon technology.” Global Environmental Change 29 (November): 444-458

Graeme Auld 2014 “Confronting Trade-offs and Interactive Effects in the Choice of Policy Focus: Specialized versus Comprehensive Private Governance” Regulation and Governance 8(1): 126-148

Graeme Auld and Lars Gulbrandsen, 2014 “Learning through Disclosure: The Evolving Importance of Transparency for Nonstate Certification” in A. Gupta and M. Mason (eds) Transparency in Global Environmental Governance: Critical Perspectives, pp 271-296. MIT Press: Cambridge

Bradford S. Gentry, Thomas Sikor, Graeme Auld, Anthony J. Beddington, Tor A. Benjaminsen, Carol A. Hunsberger, Anne-Marie Izac, Matias E. Margulis, Tobias Plieninger, Heike Schroeder, and Caroline Upton, 2014. “Changes in Land Governance in an Urban Era” in K. Seto and A. Reenberg (eds) Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era, pp 238-274. MIT Press: Cambridge

Graeme Auld, 2014. “Private Market-Based Regulations: What they are, and what they may mean for land-use governance” in K. Seto and A. Reenberg (eds) Rethinking Global Land Use in an Urban Era, pp 217-238. MIT Press: Cambridge

Norichika Kanie, Peter M. Haas, Steinar Andresen, Graeme Auld, Benjamin Cashore, Pamela S. Chasek, Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliverira, Stefan Renckens, Olav Schram Stokke, Casey Stevens, Stacy VanDeveer, and Masahiko Iguchi, 2013 “Green Pluralism: Lessons from Pluralistic Configuration of Actors for Improved Environmental Governance” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 55(5): 14-30

Thomas Sikor, Graeme Auld, Anthony J. Beddington, Tor A. Benjaminsen, Bradford S. Gentry, Carol A. Hunsberger, Anne-Marie Izac, Matias E. Margulis, Tobias Plieninger, Heike Schroeder, and Caroline Upton, 2013 “Global Land Governance: From Territory to Flow” Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability 5(5): 522-527

Graeme Auld and Benjamin Cashore, 2013 “Mixed Signals: NGO Campaigns and Non-State Market Driven (NSMD) Governance in an Export-Oriented Country” Canadian Public Policy 39(s2): 143-156

Graeme Auld, Benjamin Cashore, and Stefan Renckens, 2013. “Governance Components in Private Regulation: Implications for Legitimacy, Authority and Effectiveness” in N. Kanie, S. Andresen, and P.M. Haas (eds) Improving Global Environmental Governance: Best and Worst Practices for Improving International Climate Change Governance, pp 152-174. Routledge: London.

Graeme Auld and Lars H. Gulbrandsen, 2013. “Private Regulation in Global Environmental Governance” in R. Falkner (ed) Handbook of Global Climate and Environmental Policy. Wiley-Blackwell Press: Oxford.

Kelly Levin, Benjamin Cashore, Steven Bernstein, and Graeme Auld, 2012. “Overcoming the Tragedy of Super Wicked Problems: Constraining our Future Selves to Ameliorate Global Climate Change” Policy Sciences 45(2): 123-152

Recent Funded Research

SSHRC Insight Grant “Governing Natural Resources in a Global Era: Actors, Practices, and Outcomes,” Principal Investigator (Co-PIs: Hevina Dashwood, Alexandra Mallett, Lisa Mills, and Robert Slater), July 2013 to July 2018, $444,920

Recent Teaching

Policy Analysis for Environmental Governance (University of Melbourne)

Movements, Markets, Resources (Yale University)

Canadian Resource Management (Yale University)

Policy Analysis (Carleton University)

Policy Institutions and Processes (Carleton University)

Policy: Analysis, Implementation, and Evaluation (Carleton University)

Environmental Policy (Carleton University)

Policy Analysis and Contemporary Governance (Carleton University)

Recent Supervisions

“Ecosystem Services and the Political Economy of Watershed Governance” Matthew Retallack, Ph.D. candidate, School of Public Policy and Administration, co-supervisor

“Reinforcing the Legitimacy of the State after Conflict: Assessing the Institution Building – Legitimacy Paradox” Ruby Dagher, Ph.D. candidate, School of Public Policy and Administration, supervisor

Recent editorships or academic offices

Editorial Board, Business and Politics, 2014 – present

Editorial Board, Global Environmental Politics, 2013 – present

Editorial Board, Review of Policy Research, 2012 – present

Distinctions and Awards

Elected Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, November 2017
Recognizes early and mid-career achievements for emerging Canadian intellectual leader

Co-Winner “Lynton Keith Caldwell Prize,” September 2016
Awarded by the American Political Science Association for the best book on environmental politics and policy for Constructing Private Governance: The Rise and Evolution of Forest, Coffee, and Fisheries Certification, Yale University Press, 2014.

“Emerging Young Scholar Award,” September 2016
Awarded by the American Political Science Association in recognition of a researcher, within ten years of their PhD degree, who is making notable contributions to the field of science, technology, and environmental politics.

Honourable Mention “Harold and Margaret Sprout Award,” February 2015
Awarded by the International Studies Association for the best book in the field of international environmental policy and politics; received honourable mention for Constructing Private Governance: The Rise and Evolution of Forest, Coffee, and Fisheries Certification (Yale University Press, 2014)

Canadian Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science, Yale University, August 2014 – June 2015

Winner “Harold and Margaret Sprout Award,” March 2005
Awarded by the International Studies Association for the best book in the field of international environmental policy and politics; co-winner with Benjamin Cashore and Deanna Newsom for Governing through Markets: Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-State Authority (Yale University Press, 2004)

Share: Twitter, Facebook
Short URL: https://carleton.ca/politicaleconomy/?p=2924