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Signature: _____________________________ ______________ Elizabeth Whiting Pierce Date In Pursuit of Democratic and Prudent Water Governance in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin By Elizabeth Whiting Pierce Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Division of Religion Ethics and Society _________________________________________ Ellen Ott Marshall Advisor _________________________________________ Elizabeth Bounds Committee Member _________________________________________ Lance Gunderson Committee Member _________________________________________ Barbara A. B. Patterson Committee Member _________________________________________ Edward Queen Committee Member Accepted: _________________________________________ Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D. Dean of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies ___________________ Date In Pursuit of Democratic and Prudent Water Governance in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin By Elizabeth Whiting Pierce M.Div., Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2012 B.S., Trevecca Nazarene University, 2008 Advisor: Ellen Ott Marshall, Ph.D. An abstract of A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Division of Religion, Ethics and Society 2017 Abstract In Pursuit of Democratic and Prudent Water Governance in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin By Elizabeth Whiting Pierce For nearly thirty years, the states of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia have disputed how the waters of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) river basin should be allocated. This dissertation evaluates whether one approach to resolving this conflict deserves further attention and political support. That approach—which reflects the institutional design prescriptions of Adaptive Governance (AG)—involves the creation of a transboundary river basin commission capable of adaptive management. This dissertation utilizes two procedural goals as evaluative standards of this approach: environmental prudence and democratic legitimacy. This dissertation assesses whether building a river basin commission that reflects AG design prescriptions could, on principle, enhance the environmental prudence and democratic legitimacy of ACF water allocation policies. To the degree that this approach meets those criteria, it deserves further political support in the ACF basin. In Pursuit of Democratic and Prudent Water Governance in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin By Elizabeth Whiting Pierce M.Div., Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2012 B.S., Trevecca Nazarene University, 2008 Advisor: Ellen Ott Marshall, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Division of Religion, Ethics and Society 2017 Acknowledgements My doctoral education has given me the chance to accrue many happy debts of gratitude. I would like to express thanks first to my advisor, Ellen Ott Marshall. If only all graduate students could so lucky as to have a peacebuilding scholar as the chair of their dissertation committees. Her clear communication eased my anxiety and smoothed many potential administrative roadblocks, even when my completion deadline was abruptly moved up a full six months. She has also been unfailingly cheerful and kind. Liz Bounds was my first advisor in graduate school, and she gave me a tremendously helpful, old-fashioned talking to early on in my program regarding calendars, email, and whatnot. That conversation has made all the difference in my ability to collaborate effectively. Also, her Theories of Justice course provided me a fascinating introduction to the subject of political philosophy. I had no idea one could make patently secular arguments about how the government should work. I’ve been hooked ever since. During a particularly difficult season, Edward Queen hired me as a graduate assistant to the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership. That was one of several votes of confidence Dr. Queen has given me over the last five years. Each one was a source of courage when I needed it. Many, many thanks. It is a little difficult to begin naming the blessings Bobbi Patterson has bestowed on me and my family. She is a gifted teacher and administrator, priest and coach, sage and playmate. The students of the GDR know this, which is why we flock to her office with such regularity. Thank you dozens of times over for your wise counsel. Lance Gunderson not only generated a great deal of the scholarship on which this dissertation is based, he was kind enough to help me participate in it. I am grateful for the subject matter of his research and even more for his example of purposeful interdisciplinary work. Studying Adaptive Governance has been a very hopeful venture for me, and I look forward to utilizing its insights as a citizen. My ability to incorporate environmental science into my scholarship was also aided tremendously by the Religion and Ecology Collaborative. I am especially grateful for Becky Copeland and Johannes Kleiner. Without your scholarly and administrative gusto, that first class would never have happened. I have relished your company ever since then. The Office of Sustainability Initiatives provided me a chance to learn how to incorporate environmental concerns not just into scholarship but into the day-to-day- patterns of an academic institution. Ciannat Howett, Taylor Spicer, Kelly O’Day Weisinger, and Akelia Hypolite run OSI with grace and effectiveness that is not to be believed. Also, Ciannat Howett introduced me to Bradley Currey, whose insights on the ACF Stakeholders have been invaluable. My writing partners Kristyn Sessions and Sarah MacDonald have made dissertation writing feel almost like a team sport. They read many ambling pages, found the nuggets, noted the murky spots, and asked the questions that helped me write the next paragraph. I am so grateful to have you two in my corner. Since one cannot write all the time, I have been delighted to have Layla Karst nearly next door. She has been a wonderful colleague and an even better confidante and fellow extrovert. In my sophomore year of college, Christis Farrell “all but packed Liz up in a FedEx box and shipped her to Whidbey Island, WA” for an ecology field studies program He also informed me, emphatically, that women do have time for graduate work. Thank you for your hope and faith in students and for your perception of grace in the natural world. Thanks are also owed to several persons at my undergraduate institution, Trevecca Nazarene University, without whom I would not have had the confidence to pursue graduate studies: Timothy Green, Dan Boone, and Steve Hoskins. The fact that I finished my graduate studies is due in large part to my dear friend, Nessa Pettyjohn. I’ve never had so much fun blowing off steam. Neither have I ever blown off such colorful steam. I love you dearly. Thanks also go to my earliest ethical discussion partners: Jeffrey Whiting and Kat Johnson. Jeffrey introduced to me deontology, through disputes over the rules of board games and, later on, discussions of cannon law. Kat introduced me to virtue ethics. She has always combined good moral instincts with a certain flippancy about rules. The two of them confused me so much I needed a doctoral program to sort things out. Also, being a middle child wasn’t bad preparation for studying a decades-long conflict. I am grateful to my father, Brian Whiting, who taught me how to read and to think (the reading took a while). He was and is one of my favorite people to think aloud with, especially about the quirks of institutions. You were a wonderful parent to me as child, but you are an even better parent to me as an adult-child. Thank you for being the loudest cheerleader of my professional development. I am grateful to my mother, Susan Whiting, who taught me how to laugh and cry and endure. She made graduate school possible, by giving me the gift of stability. She also kept my nerves extremely well-myelinated and my feet well-shod. I love and admire you tremendously. I am also grateful to my grandmothers, Glenna Hughes and Sylvia Whiting Mallory. I am proud to be related to such smart, strong, fun women. Thank you for all your stories and support. Last of all, I am grateful for my spouse, Matthew Lawrence Pierce. I am so glad I got to ride out the twists and turns of the last few years with you. You filled these years with French social theory, road trips, potlucks, and exceedingly long hikes. You introduced me to environmental planning and policy, the subject matter of my dissertation. You told me my work mattered when I needed to hear it. You told