Dissertation: When Helping Hurts
When Helping Hurts: Growth, Adaptation, and a Critique of Ecowelfare
My dissertation develops a critical theory of the “ecowelfare state”—the emerging apparatus through which governments attempt to manage climate impacts through social policy. Drawing on comparative policy analysis, event-history modeling, and critical theory, I argue that contemporary adaptation planning reproduces growth-dependent logics that undermine genuine climate resilience.
Key Questions:
- How do welfare states incorporate climate adaptation into existing social protection systems?
- Does the pursuit of mitigation delay or complement adaptation planning?
- What role does economic inequality play in shaping national climate policy capacity?
Empirical Contributions:
- First systematic analysis of how U.S. disasters reshape safety net enrollment across TANF, SNAP, UI, LIHEAP, and Medicaid
- Global typology of energy assistance programs as “regressive offsetting” mechanisms
- Cross-national comparison of adaptation planning in Europe and the United States
Expected Completion: 2027