Daniel Fiorino Director, Center for Environmental Policy Public Administration and Policy
- Additional Positions at AU
- Director, Center for Environmental Policy: School of Public Affairs, American University, 2010 to present.
- Degrees
- PhD, Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
MA, Political Science, Johns Hopkins University
BA, Political Science & Minor in Economics, Youngstown State University - Favorite Spot on Campus
- Center for Environmental Policy
- Bio
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Daniel J. Fiorino is the founding Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University. A faculty member in the Department of Public Administration and Policy, he teaches environmental policy, energy and climate change, environmental sustainability, and public management.
Dan is the author or co-author of seven books and some 60 articles and book chapters. According to Google Scholar, his work is cited some 5.300 times in the professional literature. His recent books are A Good Life on a Finite Earth: The Political Economy of Green Growth (Oxford University Press, 2018), Can Democracy Handle Climate Change? (Polity Books, 2018), and Conceptual Innovation in Environmental Policy (with James Meadowcroft, MIT Press, 2017). MIT Press also published the second edition of Environmental Governance Reconsidered (with Robert F. Durant and Rosemary O’Leary) in 2017.
The New Environmental Regulation won the Brownlow Award of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) for “excellence in public administration literature” in 2007. Altogether his publications have received ten national and international awards from the American Society for Public Administration, International Political Science Association, Policy Studies Organization, Academy of Management, and NAPA. In 2019, A Good Life on a Finite Earth received the Levine Prize of the International Political Science Association for best book in comparative public policy published in 2018.
Dan joined American University in 2009 after a career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Among his positions were the Associate Director of the Office of Policy Analysis, Director of the Waste and Chemicals Policy Division, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Administrator for Policy, and Director of the National Environmental Performance Track. The Performance Track program was selected as one of the top 50 innovations in American government 2006 and recognized by Administrator Christine Todd Whitman with an EPA Silver Medal in 2002. In 1993, he received EPA’s Lee M. Thomas Award for Management Excellence.
He has appeared on or been quoted in many media outlets: the Washington Post, Daily Beast, Newsweek, BBC America, Christian Science Monitor, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Agence France-Presse, Marketplace, and CCTV on such topics as air quality, climate change policy, the BP Horizon Oil Spill, carbon trading, EPA, the role of environmental issues in the 2016 election, and U.S. environmental and energy politics.
In 2013, he created the William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership within the Center for Environmental Policy, working with associates of Mr. Reilly and several corporate and other sponsors. An elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Dan was the Sir Frank Holmes Visiting Fellow in Public Policy at Victoria University in New Zealand during the summer of 2013.
- See Also
- SPA Center for Environmental Policy
- SPA Department of Public Administration and Policy
- William K. Reilly Fund for Environmental Governance and Leadership
- For the Media
- To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.
Teaching
Fall 2024
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PUAD-685 Topics in Policy Analysis/Mgmt: Public Pol for Environ/Energy
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PUAD-899 Doctoral Dissertation
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SPA-370 Amer Environ Policy & Politics
Spring 2025
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PUAD-685 Topics in Policy Analysis/Mgmt: Envir Sustainability & Pub Pol
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PUAD-899 Doctoral Dissertation
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SPA-300 SPA Honors Colloquium: Clean Energy Transition
Partnerships & Affiliations
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National Academy of Public Administration
Fellow, since 2001
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Honors, Awards, and Fellowships
Dr. Fiorino has received nine national awards for his writing. Most recently, his book The New Environmental Regulation received the Louis Brownlow Award of the National Academy of Public Administration for “excellence in public administration literature.” He also has received best article or best book awards from the Public Administration Review, Policy Studies Journal, Academy of Management, and the Environment and Natural Resources Section of the American Society for Public Administration. Ěý Ěý Among the awards he received at EPA are the Excellence in Management Award and a Silver Medal for creating and launching the Performance Track program. In 2006, Performance Track was selected by the Kennedy School of Government as one of the top 50 innovations in American government.
Selected Publications
Books:
Cambridge, UK: Polity Books, 2018.
. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Winner in 2019 of the Levine Prize of the International Political Science Association for best book on comparative public policy published in 2018.
Conceptual Innovation in Environmental Policy (co-editor with James Meadowcroft). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017.
Environmental Governance Reconsidered: Challenges, Choices, and Opportunities, 2d ed. (co-editor with Robert Durant and Rosemary O’Leary). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
The New Environmental Regulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.Ěý Winner of the Louis Brownlow Book Award, National Academy of Public Administration, 2007. Named Best Book in Environmental Management and Policy, American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) for 2006.
Environmental Governance Reconsidered: Challenges, Choices, and Opportunities (co-editor with Robert F. Durant and Rosemary O’Leary). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. Selected as the BestĚý Book in Environmental Management and Policy, ASPA.
Managing for the Environment: Understanding the Legal, Organizational, and Policy Challenges (co-author with Rosemary O’Leary, Robert Durant, and Paul Weiland). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999.Ěý Winner of Best Book Award in the Public and Non-profit Division of the Academy of Management.
Making Environmental Policy. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995.
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Journal Articles and Book Chapters:
Daniel J. Fiorino, “Creating the Green Economy: Government, Business, and a Sustainable Future,” in Norman J. Vig, Michael E. Kraft, and Barry M. Rabe, eds. Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century (Sage, 2022), pp. 323-344. Daniel J. Fiorino and Carley Weted, “Environmental Federalism in a Polarized Era,” State and Local Government Review 52 (2) (2020), pp. 138-151.
“Regulating by Performance, Not Prescription: The Use of Performance Standards in Environmental Policy,” with Manjyot Bahn, in Handbook of US Environmental Policy, David M. Konisky, ed. (Edward Elgar,2020), pp. 217-230.Ěý
Todd A. Eisenstadt, Daniel J. Fiorino, and Daniela Stevens. “National Environmental Policies as Shelter from the Storm: Specifying the Relationship Between Extreme Weather Vulnerability and National Environmental Performance,” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (2018). Ěý “Teaching Environmental Policy in an Era of Polarization and Misrepresentation,” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8 (2018): 179-182.
Daniel J. Fiorino and Manjyot Bhan, “Supply Chain Management as Private Sector Regulation: What Does It Mean for Business Strategy and Public Policy? Business Strategy and the Environment (2014).
“Too Many Levels or Just About Right? Multilevel Governance and Environmental Performance,” in James Meadowcroft and Inger Weibust, eds. Multilevel Environmental Governance: Managing Water and Climate Change in Europe and North America. Cheltenhem, UK: Edward Elgar, 2014.
“Sustainable Cities and Governance: What Are the Connections?” in Daniel A. Mazmanian and Hilda Blanco, eds. Handbook of Sustainable Cities. Cheltenhem, UK: Edward Elgar, 2014.
Jiaqi Liang and Daniel J. Fiorino, “The Implications of Policy Stability for Renewal Energy in the United States: 1974-2009,” Policy Studies Journal, 41 (2013), pp. 97-118.Ěý
“Explaining National Environmental Performance: Approaches, Evidence, and Implications,” Policy Sciences, 44(4) (2011), pp. 367-389.
“Sustainability as a Conceptual Focus for Public Administration,” Public Administration Review, 70 (2010), pp. S78-88.
“Regulating for the Future: A New Approach for Regulatory Governance,” in Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy, 2nd ed., Daniel A. Mazmanian and Michael E. Kraft., eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009, pp. 63-86.
“Green Clubs: A New Tool for Government?” in Voluntary Programs: A Club Theory Perspective, in Aseem Prakash and Matthew Potoski, eds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009, pp. 209-229.
“Environmental Policy as Learning: A New View of an Old Landscape,” Public Administration Review, 61 (2001), pp. 322-334. Winner in 2001 of the Louis Brownlow Award of the American Society for Public Administration.
“Strategies for Regulatory Reform: A Comparison of Forward and Backward Mapping,” Policy Studies Journal, 25 (1997), pp. 249-265. Winner of the Theodore Lowi Award of the Policy Studies Organization for best article in Policy Studies Journal in 1997.
“Can Problems Shape Priorities? The Case of Risk-Based Environmental Planning,” Public Administration Review, 50 (1990), pp. 82-90.Ěý Winner in 1990 of the Louis Brownlow Award of the American Society for Public Administration.
“Citizen Participation and Environmental Risk: A Survey of Institutional Mechanisms,” Science, Technology, and Human Values, 15 (1990), pp. 226-243 (Over 500 citations in Google Scholar).
“Technical and Democratic Values in Risk Analysis,” Risk Analysis, 9 (1989), pp. 293-299.
“Rethinking Environmental Regulation: Perspectives on Law and Governance,” Harvard Environmental Law Review, 23 (1999), pp. 441-469.
“Environmental Risk and Democratic Process: A Critical Review,” Columbia Journal of Environmental Law, 14 (1989), pp. 501-547.
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Major Policy Reports:
Implementing Sustainability in Federal Agencies: An Early Assessment of President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13514. IBM Center for the Business of Government. August 2011.
Voluntary Initiatives, Regulation, and Nanotechnology Oversight: Charting a Path. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Washington, D.C. November 2010 (www.wilsoncenter.org/nano).
AU Experts
Area of Expertise
Environmental policy and politics, the executive branch, the role of analysis and innovation in policy making
Additional Information
Daniel Fiorino’s teaching, research, and writing focus on environmental policy and politics, the executive branch, and the role of analysis and innovation in policy making. At the Environmental Protection Agency, he held a range of management and analytical positions, including director of the national environmental performance track, associate director of the Office of Policy Analysis, and senior advisor to the assistant administrator for policy and evaluation. Fiorino was also a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His articles have appeared in a wide range of policy, law, and social science journals. He has taught at Middlebury College, George Mason University, the University of California’s Washington Public Affairs Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and Johns Hopkins University. Fiorino was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration in 2001. He is director of AU's Center for Environmental Policy. The center's mission is to improve the nation's ability to address environmental challenges through effective governance. He is author of The New Environmental Regulation. He is the author of A Good Life on a Finite Earth: The Political Economy of Green Growth (Oxford University Press, 2017).
For the Media
To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.