ISTPP Associate Research Scientist Xinsheng Liu and Director Arnold Vedlitz, along with former ISTPP Post-Doctorate Research Associate Hyung Sam Park, have published their article, “Analyzing Climate Change Debates in the U.S. Congress: Party Control and Mobilizing Networks,” in Risks, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy.
In this study the authors determine that party control has significantly affected the dynamics of climate change debates in the US Congress. The results of their statistical and network analysis indicate that Democratic Congresses tend to seek-out scientific evidence for global climate change and advance energy-regulatory policies with a focus on mobilizing environmentalists and scientific knowledge, while Republican Congresses tend to mobilize pro-industrial and non-scientific opinions and expand the debates by bringing in diverse witnesses who focus on the implications of international climate negotiations and the economic impacts of policy changes.
Hyung Sam Park, Xinsheng Liu, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2014. “Analyzing Climate Change Debates in the U.S. Congress: Party Control and Mobilizing Networks.” Risks, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy 5(3): 239–258. DOI: 10.1002/rhc3.12062
