Comparing Institutional Collective Action for Great Lakes Water Protection in U.S. and Canadian Border Cities

This research contributes to the theoretical development of the ICA framework by discussing how federal systems shape the costs and incentives for collective action by local governments and actors in civil society by comparing the mechanisms used to organize collective action for Great Lakes water protection efforts in several cities on the border between the U.S. and Canada. Through the application of social network analysis to scrutinize the organization of collective action with each case, in addition to elite interviews with local government officials and network participants, the investigation sheds light on how constitutional and legal structures influence local approaches to collective action, specifically through the selection of different mechanisms for collaboration. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the ICA framework can contribute to scholarship of local governance in Canada.