Publications

Hertz, T., Mancilla Garcia, M.. 2021. The Cod and the Cut: Intra-Active Intuitions. Frontiers in Sociology. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2021.724751

Interest in causality is growing in sustainability science and it has been argued that a multiplicity of approaches is needed to account for the complexities of social-ecological dynamics. However, many of these approaches operate within perspectives that establish a separation between what has causal agency and all the rest, which is relegated to the role of background conditions. We argue that the distinction between causal...

Jericó-Daminello, C., Schröter, B., Mancilla Garcia, M., Albert, C.. 2021. Exploring perceptions of stakeholder roles in ecosystem services coproduction. Ecosystem Services. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2021.101353

Stakeholder groups engage in ecosystem services coproduction as both coproducers and beneficiaries. Stakeholder group perceptions of their own and each other’s roles in ecosystem services coproduction therefore influence how ecosystem services are provided in a given landscape. However, only a few studies have investigated self-perceived and attributed stakeholder group roles in this context. The aim of this paper is to assess...

Ahlström, H., Hileman, J., Wang-Erlandsson, L., García, M., Moore, M., Jonas, K., Pranindita, A., Kuiper, J., Fetzer, I., Jaramillo, F., Svedin, U.. 2021. An Earth system law perspective on governing social-hydrological systems in the Anthropocene. Earth System Governance. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2021.100120

The global hydrological cycle is characterized by complex interdependencies and self-regulating feedbacks that keep water in an ever-evolving state of flux at local, regional, and global levels. Increasingly, the scale of human impacts in the Anthropocene is altering the dynamics of this cycle, which presents additional challenges for water governance. “Earth system law” provides an important approach for addressing gaps in go...

Mancilla Garcia, M., Hertz, T. and Schlüter, M., 2020. Towards a Process Epistemology for the Analysis of Social-Ecological System. Environmental Values, 29(2), pp.221-239.

This paper proposes an epistemological approach to analyse social-ecological systems from a process perspective in order to better tackle the co-constitution of the social and the ecological and the dynamism of these systems. It highlights the usefulness of rethinking our conceptual tools taking processes and relations as the main constituents of reality instead of fundamental substances or essences. We introduce the concept o...

Bodin, Ö., García, M.M. and Robins, G., 2020. Reconciling Conflict and Cooperation in Environmental Governance: A Social Network Perspective. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 45.

Most if not all environmental problems entail conflicts of interest. Yet, different actors and opposing coalitions often but certainly not always cooperate in solving these problems. Hence, processes of conflict and cooperation often work in tandem, albeit much of the scholarly literature tends to focus on either of these phenomena in isolation. Social network analysis (SNA) provides opportunities to study cooperation and conf...

Hertz, T., Garcia, M.M. 2020. The event: a process ontological concept to understand emergent phenomena. Philosophy Kitchen, https://doi.org/10.13135/2385-1945/4008

Discussions about emergence have traditionally been structured around the dichotomy between strong (ontological) and weak (epistemological) emergence. Those focusing on emergence as an epistemological problem, understand it as metaphysically innocent, indicating an insufficient (perhaps temporarily so) knowledge of the world. Ontological emergence, on the other hand, admits new levels of reality and causal powers. It emphasize...

Hertz, T., Garcia, M.,M., Schlüter, M. 2020. From nouns to verbs: How process ontologies enhance our understanding of social‐ecological systems understood as complex adaptive systems. People and Nature, https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10079

Research on social‐ecological systems (SES) has highlighted their complex and adaptive character and pointed to the importance of recognizing their intertwined nature. Yet, we often base our analysis and governance of SES on static and independent objects, such as actors and resources which are not well suited to address complexity and intertwinedness. This bias, which is largely implicit, has its roots in substance ontologies...

Mancilla García, M., J. Hileman, and Ö. Bodin (Eds.). (2019). Collaboration and conflict in complex water governance systems across a development gradient [Special Issue]. Ecology and Society, 24(3).

Mancilla Garcia, M., Hertz, T., Schlüter, M. 2019. Towards a process epistemology for the analysis of social-ecological systems. Environmental Values. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/096327119X15579936382608

This paper proposes an epistemological approach to analyse social-ecological systems from a process perspective in order to better tackle the co-constitution of the social and the ecological and the dynamism of these systems. It highlights the usefulness of rethinking our conceptual tools taking processes and relations as the main constituents of reality instead of fundamental substances or essences. We introduce the concept o...

Mancilla García, M., J. Hileman, Ö. Bodin, A. Nilsson and P. Jacobi. 2019. The unique role of municipalities in integrated watershed governance arrangements: a new research frontier. Ecology and Society 24 (1):28. [online] URL:https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss1/art28/

 Local governments, or municipalities, play a key role in water governance around the world owing to the many administrative competencies they hold, ranging from water service delivery to urban planning. However, the ability of municipalities to carry out their competencies effectively depends in large part on the characteristics of the institutional arrangements in which they are embedded. In particular, the relationship betw...