Broadly speaking, my research investigates domestic and international environmental policy with an emphasis on the Americas. One strain focuses on the formulation of U.S. environmental energy and climate change policy. The dominant strain of my agenda analyzes foreign policy making and behavior from both a comparative and international perspective. More specifically, I am interested in better understanding what domestic and international factors affect the foreign policy behavior of Latin American countries. My book Environmental Politics and Foreign Policy Decision Making in Latin America focuses on the decisions of Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela regarding the Kyoto Protocol. It applies Role Theory to explain the variant behavior of the three case study countries using both comparative case study (process tracing) and content analysis methodologies.
"Amy Below’s book is a real contribution to Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA). The study of foreign policy decisionmaking in developing countries is sorely lacking, as is the study of environmental policy: Below tackles both lacunae in the same volume. Utilizing role theory to explain the differences in Latin American leaders’ responses to the Kyoto Protocol, Below explores the intricacies of role formation in three Latin American nations. Her careful process-tracing, bolstered by content analysis, is both solid and persuasive. Below’s book will be an important resource for FPA scholars as well as scholars interested in cross-national differences in environmental policymaking." ―Valerie M. Hudson, Texas A&M University
"Amy Below’s study of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by various countries in Latin America sits at the theoretical intersection of foreign policy analysis, role theory, and environmental politics. Her study serves as a model for all three areas of inquiry, and provides an excellent road map for the fruitful use of role theory in foreign policy analysis and beyond." ―Marijke Breuning, University of North Texas
Below, Amy (2010) Latin American Foreign Policy. International Studies Encyclopedia. International Studies Association Compendium Project. Wiley-Blackwell Publishers. 4806-4825.
In progress: The Moderating Impact of National Role Conceptions: Cuba and Foreign Policy Adaptation
Environmental Foreign Policy
Below, Amy (Forthcoming) Climate Change in Foreign Policy. Oxford Research Encyclopediaof Politics. DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.357.
Below, Amy (2008) U.S. Presidential Decisions on Ozone Depletion and Climate Change: A Foreign Policy Analysis. Foreign Policy Analysis 4(1):1-20.
In progress: Role Theory and the BASIC Countries
United States' Environmental Politics & Policy
Below, Amy (2013) Obstacles in energy security: An analysis of congressional and presidential framing in the United States. Energy Policy. 62:860-868.
Below, Amy (2013) Parties, Campaign and Elections. In The OxfordHandbook on U.S. Environmental Policy. Sheldon Kamieniecki and Michael Kraft eds. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. 525-549.
Kamieniecki, Sheldon and Amy Below (2008) Equity Issues in Stormwater Policy Implementation: Disparities in Financial Burdens and Lifestyle Sacrifice. In Water, Place and Equity: Fair Practice in Apportioning Water Among Places and Values. Helen Ingram and Richard Perry eds.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.69-94.
Below, Amy (2007) The Missing Link: Regionalism as a First Step Toward Globalizing U.S. Environmental Security. Politics & Policy 35(4):702–715.
In progress: When Climate Change in the News Leads to Climate Change in Congress” with Jenifer Whitten-Woodring
Pedagogy
Below, Amy (2016) Reflections on the OUS Cuba Program: Internationalisation via a Double Hybrid Model. European Political Science.15: 49-60.
In progress: Online Learning, Community Building and Study Abroad: A Beneficial Nexus
Other Topics
Plaza, Dwaine and Amy Below (2014). Social Media as a Tool for Transnational Caregiving within the Caribbean Diaspora. Social and Economic Studies 63(1):25-56.