Research and Publications

My research is motivated by the everyday experiences of global environmental governance that forest peoples, Indigenous Peoples, and other historically marginalized groups experience. I am particularly interested in understanding how institutions designed to mitigate injustice and, in some cases, advance justice shape the justice experiences of target communities. To examine these questions, I engage contemporary theories of environmental justice on recognition, access, and capabilities to examine the drivers, mechanisms, and consequences of institutionalizing justice principles in environmental and conservation policies.

My work is situated within three main bodies of literature related to: (1) environmental justice; (2) institutions and institutional theories; and, (3) global environmental governance–all of which have important foundations and contributions to international relations specifically and political science more broadly.

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Current Projects and Related Publications

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• The Justice Gap in Global Forest Governance
• From Presence to Influence: Examining the Politics of Indigenous Representation in Global Environmental Governance (with Laura Zanotti)
• Disproportionate Effects of Environmental Challenges (with Jennifer Dunn)
  • Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations across Generations (STRONG), NSF Awards No. 2044053 (PI), 2233912 (PI) and 2209226 (Co-PI)
  • Sustainable, Resilient, Responsible, Global Minerals Supply Chain (SuReMin), NSF Award 2330041 (Co-PI)
  • From Decarbonization to Climate Justice: A frontline community-engaged life cycle assessment of proposed mineral mines in northern Minnesota, Sloan Foundation (Co-PI)
• Additional Work
  • Methodological Innovation for Studying Environmental Agreement-making
  • Professional Reports and Case Studies
  • Book Reviews

I. Primary Research: The Justice Gap in Global Forest Governance.

Grounded in two years of fieldwork in Laos and Southeast Asia, as well as ethnographic field work at four sites of global environmental governance (the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the 2014 World Parks Congress, the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 2016 World Conservation Congress), this research elucidates the justice gap in global forest governance, defined as the persistence of remediable injustices (re)produced by the institutions designed to address them (30). To explain the perpetuation of this justice gap, the analysis demonstrates how particular conceptualizations of justice embedded in the institutional fabric of global environmental governance construct justice possibilities for forest peoples. In addition to participant observation, the data include interviews with government officials, elected officials, NGO and civil society representatives, and staff from bilateral and multilateral development agencies. Data also include household surveys and content analysis of hundreds of forest policy, program, and project documents from Laos and other mainland Southeast Asian countries. The analysis draws from these data to unpack justice – its meanings, interpretations, expectations, manifestations, and experiences through multiple governance levels – to examine how and why the scope and stickiness of justice norms impact the justice experiences of forest peoples. It illuminates how common justice norms limits justice to a narrow, uniform, and static concept, which further entrenches injustice in forest communities.

Related Publications

1. Pickering, Jonathan, Brendan Coolsaet, Neil Dawson, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Cristina Y.A. Inoue, and Michelle Lim. 2021. “Justice and equity in transformative biodiversity governance.” Chapter in Transforming Biodiversity Governance, Ingrid Visseren-Hamaers and Marcel Kok. Cambridge University Press (open access publication).
2. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2021. “Critical Perspectives on Representation, Equity, and Rights: Developing a Comparative Politics of Environmental Justice.” In The Oxford Handbook on Comparative Environmental Politics, Eds. Erika Weinthal, Stacy VanDeveer, and Jeannie Sowers. Oxford University Press.
3. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2020. “Procedural Justice Matters: Power, Representation, and Participation in Environmental Governance.” In Environmental Justice: Key Issues, Ed. Brendan Coolsaet.
4. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2017. “Contesting Justice in Global Forest Governance: the Promises and Pitfalls of REDD+.” Conservation and Society 15(2): 189-200 (open access).
5. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2016. “Transforming Justice in REDD+ through a Politics of Difference Approach.” Forests 7(300): 1-14. Reproduced in 2018 as part of a special publication: Corbera, Esteve and Heike Schroeder (eds). REDD+ Crossroads Post Paris: Politics, Lessons and Interplays. MDPI (open access).
6. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2015. “Displacing Difference and the Barriers to Environmental Justice.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 3(4): 697-702. (Forum piece).
7. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. 2014. “Negotiating the Nagoya Protocol: Indigenous Demands for Justice.” Global Environmental Politics 14(3): 102-124.
8. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Susan Caplow. 2013. “In Pursuit of Procedural Justice: Lessons from an Analysis of 56 Forest Carbon Project Designs.” Global Environmental Change 23(5): 968-979.

II. Collaborative Research: From Presence to Influence -- Examining the Politics of Indigenous Representation in Global Environmental Governance, with Laura Zanotti (Purdue University).

In this project, we seek to identify and examine the ways in which marginalized and underrepresented groups effectively influence global environmental governance processes that directly impact their ways of living.

Related Publications

1. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti, with Kate Haapala. 2021. “Navigating the Spaces between Human Rights and Justice: Cultivating Indigenous Representation in Global Environmental Governance.” Journal of Peasant Studies. DOI: 10.1080/03066250.220.1835869.
2. Zanotti, Laura and Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya. 2020. “Doing feminist collaborative event ethnography.” Journal of Political Ecology 27(1): 961-987 (open access).
3. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti. 2019. “Making Influence Visible: Innovating Ethnography at the Paris Climate Summit.” Global Environmental Politics 19(2): 38-60.
4. Witter, Rebecca,* Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya,* Rebecca Gruby, Maggie Bourque, Sarah Hitchner, Ted Maclin, and Peter Brosius. 2015. “Moments of Influence in Global Environmental Governance.” Environmental Politics 24(6): 894-912.

III. Collaborative Research: STRONG Manoomin Collective

The STRONG Manoomin Collective is a tribally-driven research effort that aims to strengthen Ojibwe resilience by addressing the erosion of tribal sovereignty. Guided by an Inidgenous knowledge framework, our work converges social science and advanced sensing and data science methods to address key environmental, ecological, and governance needs identified by collaborating Ojibwe Nations.

External Funding

1. Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations Across Generations: Sovereignty, Food, Water, and Cultural (in)Security, with Jonathan Gilbert (Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission), Josiah Hester (Georgia Tech), Patty Loew (NU), Pete Beckman (Argonne National Laboratories), and Aaron Packman (NU).

• • NSF Smart and Connected Communities Award No. 2233912 (PI, $2,000,000, 08/01/2023 - 07/31/2026).
  • NSF Civic Innovation Award No. 2044053 (PI, $50,000, 01/15/2021 - 12/21/2022). Film Screening (second film in session).

1. Focused CoPe: Strengthening Resilience of Manoomin, the Sentinel Species of the Great Lakes, with Data-Science Supported Seventh Generation Stewardship, with Josiah Hester (PI, Georgia Tech), Pete Beckman (Argonne National Laboratories), Keith Cherkauer (Purdue University), and Gene-Hua Ng (University of Minnesota). NSF Award No. 2209226 (Co-PI, $5,000,000, 09/01/2022 - 08/31/2027).

Related Publications

1. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R., Margaret O’Connell, Edith Leoso, Marvin Shingwe Biness Neme DeFoe, Alexandra Anderson, Megan Bang, Pete Beckman, Anne-Marie Boyer, Jennifer Dunn, Jonathan Gilbert, Josiah Hester, Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, Philomena Kebec, Nancy Loeb, Patricia Loew, William M. Miller, Katie Moffitt, Aaron I. Packman, Michael Waasegiizhig Price, Beth Redbird, Jennie Rogers, Raj Sankaran, James Schwoch, Pam Silas, Weston Twardowski, and Nyree Zerega. 2022. “Waking from Paralysis: Revitalizing Conceptions of Climate Knowledge and Justice for More Effective Climate Action.” The Annals of Political Science, 700(1): 166-182. Doi:10.1177/00027162221095495

IV. Collaborative Research: Methodological Innovation for Studying Environmental Agreement-Making, with Alice Vadrot (University of Vienna, project lead) and Hannah Hughes (Cardiff University, project lead).

Related Publications

1. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R. and Laura Zanotti. 2023. "Ethnography" in Conducting Research and Global Environmental Negotiations, eds. Hannah Hughes and Alice Vadrot. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
2. Vadrot, Alice M., Hannah Hughes, Jen Iris Allan, Tracy Bach, Jennifer S. Bansard, Pamela Chasek, Noella Gray, Arne Langlet, Timo Leiter, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Beth Martin, Matthew Paterson, Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki, Harriet Thew, Marcela Vecchione Gonçalves, Yulia Yamineva. 2021. “Global environmental agreement-making: Upping the methodological and ethical stakes of studying negotiations.” Earth System Governance 10 (open access).
3. Hughes, Hannah, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya and Alice B.M. Vadrot, Editors for Special Section “Methodological Innovation in the Study of Environmental Agreement-making. Global Environmental Politics 19(2).

V. Collaborative Research: Disproportionate Impacts of Environmental Challenges, with Jennifer Dunn (NU/Argonne). Buffett Institute Working Group, $300,000, 09/01/2020 - 08/31/2023.

 VI. Additional Publications

1. Marion Suiseeya, Kimberly R., Diana K. Elhard, and Christopher J. Paul. 2021. “Towards a Relational Approach in Global Climate Governance: Exploring the Role of Trust.” WIREs Climate Change 12(4): e712. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.712
2. O'Neill, Kate, Erika Weinthal, Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Steven Bernstein, Avery S. Cohn, Michael W. Stone, and Benjamin Cashore. 2013. “Methods and Global Environmental Governance.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 38(1): 441-471 (open access).

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Professional Reports and Case Studies

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Book Reviews