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Civil Society and the Collaborative County Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Joseph Trapp Campbell, M.S., B.A. Graduate Program in Rural Sociology The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Linda Lobao, Advisor Tom Koontz Jeff Sharp Copyright by Joseph Trapp Campbell 2013 Abstract Socioeconomic forces (e.g. mobile capital, domestic manufacturing decline, and austerity measures) place stress upon U.S. local governments’ efforts to provide public services. County governments operate in a context where they must meet federal and state devolutionary responsibilities while addressing service demands among their citizenry, stimulate their own economic development portfolio, and mediate between a complex local system of jurisdictions and private and public entities. Scholars and public policy practitioners advocate “intergovernmental collaboration” between county and other local governments as a necessary step towards effective public service provision to positively adapt to the socioeconomic forces listed above. At the same time, a wealth of research emerged over the past two decades highlighting the strong relationship between an engaged and robust civil society and governmental performance. The ability for “bridging” organizations to unify multiple, and at time conflicting, facets of civil society onto a similar platform for economic development planning and implementation is one mechanism driving this relationship. Effective governance in the early twenty-first century requires civil society working constructively with local public officials to engage in shared economic development services and activities. This study, utilizing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach, investigates the role that civil society plays in the process of intergovernmental collaboration at the county level. First, it examines, through cross-sectional quantitative research, the relationship between a variety of civil society indicators and the rate in which county governments engage with other local governments in the provision of various economic development services and activities. It draws upon primary (i.e. National Association of Counties/Ohio State University data) and secondary (e.g. Census of Governments) data to test this research question. Second, an in-depth case study approach is implemented within one county in Ohio to highlight the underlying causal mechanisms and relationships between civil society and intergovernmental collaboration. In addition, the qualitative, case study research captures the evolutionary dynamics of collaborative processes as well as the county’s experiences as it prepares for the effects of shale-based oil and gas development. ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to several members of my family. First, it is dedicated to my parents, Robert and Susan Campbell, and my sister, Kathleen Campbell Brankamp. I would not have achieved this degree without their love, support, and guidance. Thank you for setting the example and reminding me of what it takes to get a tough job done. Dad, something about the long hours (and beard) that you put on in the old den pounding away at your dissertation seems to have worn off. Mom, you’ve never been a quitter and you demonstrate day in and day out that if you want something bad enough then you (just) have to work for it. Above all your unconditional love and support made this possible, thanks to you both. Kacey, thanks for serving as an incredible role model for all of these years; you set an example that leads to great things. This dissertation is also dedicated to my Grandmother, Marilyn Trapp, who shows all of us the boundless capacities of the human spirit and the utility of common sense. Last, this dissertation is dedicated to my Great Aunt, Persis Long, who taught me the immeasurable value of listening. You each demonstrate to me that learning is a never-ending endeavor, thank you. iii Acknowledgements My most sincere thanks go to my advisor, Dr. Linda Lobao, who guided me through the coursework, candidacy exam, and research processes from beginning to end. Thank you for the vision you had for this dissertation project, while also having the trust and providing the freedom to allow me to do what I thought was best for it. This process has been a tremendous experience and I have you to thank for it. Thank you! Also, many thanks go to Dr. Tom Koontz, who first introduced me to the graduate-level research experience and helped build my confidence and skills in this domain. Thank you for helping me down this path and for all your guidance along it. In addition, thank you to Dr. Jeff Sharp for the insights he shared into community economic development, rural sociology, and for his helpful criticisms regarding my research. Thank you to Dr. Mark Partridge for taking the time to listen to, and helping me to develop, my research interests pertaining to county-level economic development. In addition, this work would not have been possible without the extensive collaboration from some great people in Jefferson County, Ohio. iv First, thanks to Mike Hogan (via Dr. Ken Martin), OSU Extension, for introducing me to some of the good work occurring in the county. Ed Looman, Sue Hershey, Terry Bell, Rich Fender, and Domenick Mucci, thank you for your interest in my research and helping to facilitate my work there. Also, thanks to Mike Paprocki, Dr. Laura Meeks, Irene Moore, Wendee Zadanski, Maggie Corder, Ed Hashbarger, Clark Crago, Matt Parise, Dr. Tom Graham, Dave Maple, Gini Chandler, Joy Howell, and Tracee Joltes for your help and support. OSU personnel have been instrumental in assisting this research including the SENR staff in Room 210, especially Pat Patterson, Amy Schmidt, and Mary Capoccia, you guys make it easy to be a graduate student! Many thanks go to Dr. Steve Naber and Matt Yin with the Student Consulting Service for their extensive statistical support in 2012. In addition, I’d like to thank Mike Betz, P. Wilner Jeanty, and Lazarus Adua for various support and assistance in understanding and utilizing the NACo dataset. Thanks go to Dani Deemer for providing “Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown” (Dani—I’m going to write a sequel titled, “Why this Book Saved My Dissertation.”) To Rebecca, Cory, Mauricia, Anjel, Caitlin, Nick, Javier, Tom, Tania, and all other R.S. colleagues for serving as outlets to express issues related to Rural Sociology, methodology, etc. To Adam and Ajay…(and Divya and Pranietha v for moral support) for foosball games that helped make the process of qualitative transcription and analysis tolerable. Last, my family and friends have provided a fantastic outlet throughout this graduate process. Thank you all very much. I must also acknowledge the International Poverty Solutions Collaborative (IPSC). The IPSC supported my travel to Jefferson County, Ohio on four occasions to interview 19 citizens of this Appalachian county in regard to manufacturing decline, poverty, and government service provision, and collect site specific information related to the impacts of shale development on local governments in the county. This research provided a significant portion of my dissertation research, and it also provides baseline data for community impact studies examining the effects of shale oil and gas development on Appalachian Ohio county governments. In addition, I give many thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Needs Graduate Fellowship Competitive Grant No.2008-38420-18750 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture as this funding provided me with much needed support between late 2009 to late 2012. Last, funding for the quantitative research portion of this study was provided by the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, CREES grant number 2007-35401-17733. vi Vita 2002…………….. Thomas Worthington High School 2006…………….. B.A. Environmental Studies, University of Vermont 2008…………….. M.S. Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University 2009 to Graduate Fellow and Teaching Associate, Department of Rural present………… Sociology, The Ohio State University Publications Comp, T A., Campbell, J. T., and Jenna L. Fehr. “Rural Volunteers: A Toolkit for working with volunteers in rural communities.” 2011. The OSM/VISTA Teams: Appalachian Coal Country Team and Western Hardrock Watershed Team. Campbell, Joseph T., Tomas M. Koontz, and Joseph E. Bonnell. 2011.“Does Collaboration Promote Grassroots Behavior Change? Farmer Adoption of Best Management Practices in Two Watersheds.” Society and Natural Resources, 23 (11), pp. 1127-1141. Fields of Study Major Field: Rural Sociology vii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .................................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................. iv Vita ................................................................................................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ..............................................................................................................................................................