LIST OF PANELS

Hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” is the process of injecting high-pressure water, sand and other chemicals into shale rock formations in order to extract unconventional oil and gas. Fracking has been around for some time, but only in the past several years has the issue come into the public eye. It’s a highly contentious political issue with a global scope because of the high volume of water it uses, the types of chemicals used, the economic potential, and the unknown health and environmental impacts.  This panel seeks papers that use theories of policy and politics to understand the debates and conflicts over hydraulic fracturing issues.   Some of the important questions that papers might examine include: What are areas of agreement/disagreement?  What organizations/individuals are mobilized and represent the different sides of this issue in a country?     What are the capacity, networks, and resources being employed to influence the politics and policy?    What strategies, activities, venues are being pursued?     What is the current policy status of hydraulic fracturing development?  What is the propensity of policy change and maybe consensus into the future?   We are looking for papers that pursue these questions and others using a variety of theories and methods. A strong emphasis on advancing theoretical development in the study of policy and politics using this issue is encouraged.

Hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” is the process of injecting high-pressure water, sand and other chemicals into shale rock formations in order to extract unconventional oil and gas. Fracking has been around for some time, but only in the past several years has the issue come into the public eye. It’s a highly contentious political issue with a global scope because of the high volume of water it uses, the types of chemicals used, the economic potential, and the unknown health and environmental impacts.  This panel seeks papers that use theories of policy and politics to understand the debates and conflicts over hydraulic fracturing issues.   Some of the important questions that papers might examine include: What are areas of agreement/disagreement?  What organizations/individuals are mobilized and represent the different sides of this issue in a country?     What are the capacity, networks, and resources being employed to influence the politics and policy?    What strategies, activities, venues are being pursued?     What is the current policy status of hydraulic fracturing development?  What is the propensity of policy change and maybe consensus into the future?   We are looking for papers that pursue these questions and others using a variety of theories and methods.  A strong emphasis on advancing theoretical development in the study of policy and politics using this issue is encouraged.