Do all of these meetings matter? Three essays concerning the impacts of collaborative watershed governance

My dissertation presents three related projects. In each project, I make a novel contribution to the understanding of collaborative environmental governance in theory and practice. I focus on a common application of collaborative environmental governance - collaborative watershed planning and management groups. Broadly, I address the question of whether -and how-collaborative governance improves environmental outcomes. Accordingly, each project is intended to address questions that are critical in this regard. Within each chapter I also make a significant methodological contribution to policy and management research. For each of the three chapters I use novel data and demonstrate the use of an analytic method that as-of-yet has not gained traction in policy and management research.