Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental and Energy Policy (PhD)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Social Sciences
Advisor 1
Kayla Gabehart
Committee Member 1
Chelsea Schelly
Committee Member 2
Adam Wellstead
Committee Member 3
Jenny Apriesnig
Abstract
Climate impacts are accelerating, and so are climate and energy vulnerabilities. Low-income, rural communities and Tribal Nations are the most burdened, hence the need for justice-centered strategies for advancing social equity amid compounding vulnerabilities. In the case of Michigan, the state's climate is changing, with some Michiganders paying approximately 20% more for energy than U.S. averages amid varying climate and energy vulnerabilities. This dissertation, rooted in Martha Fineman's vulnerability theory and complementary climate and energy justice frameworks, and drawing on public policy theories including the policy capacity framework, historical institutionalism, policy design theory, and administrative burden theory, conducts an in-depth multi-level analysis of climate vulnerability, climate policy governance, and energy program design in Michigan. The first empirical chapter advances the climate vulnerability assessment (CVA) methodology by integrating the IPCC contextual vulnerability framework with the policy capacity framework, treating policy capacity as a theoretically grounded operationalization of the institutional dimension of adaptive capacity rather than as a supplementary analysis. The chapter conducts a contextual climate vulnerability assessment of Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula (WUP) and centers the organizational policy capacity analysis on the Western Upper Peninsula Development Region (WUPPDR), the primary governance actor responsible for translating vulnerability knowledge into adaptation action. The second empirical chapter conducts a historical institutional analysis of Michigan's climate policy landscape to examine how and why the policy mix has evolved and how justice dimensions have been integrated. The third empirical chapter examines how the design features of Michigan's energy assistance programs may produce administrative burdens that may constrain equitable energy access, integrating the administrative burden framework with Bourdieu's concepts of capital and habitus. Together, these chapters constitute a unified inquiry into the significance of vulnerability assessments in informing data-driven adaptation planning and the role of government, through public policy design, in either reinforcing existing inequities or enhancing resilience to climate and energy vulnerabilities.
Recommended Citation
Asamani, Mercedes Rowe, "PEOPLE, POLITICS, AND POWER: CLIMATE VULNERABILITIES, POLICY LANDSCAPES, AND EQUITABLE ENERGY ACCESS IN MICHIGAN", Open Access Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2026.
https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etdr/2166
Included in
Energy Policy Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social Justice Commons