Thomas Birkland

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Bio

I am a political scientist, best known for my work on the politics of sudden, attention-grabbing “focusing events” such as natural disasters and industrial accidents. I am originally from the Pacific Northwest, and have lived in Seattle, Anchorage, central New Jersey, Albany New York, and since 2007 I have lived in the Triangle. From 2011 to 2014 I was Associate Dean for Research and Engagement in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. I have a deep appreciation for the role of research universities, and NC State exemplifies that role and the value of research universities for our community, our state, and the nation.

I am working on three main lines of research. I am a member of an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional research team, the Risk and Social Policy Working Group (riskandsocialpolicy.org), which is undertaking a wide range of projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, I am part of a team of researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Alaska at Anchorage, LeMoyne College, and Clemson University, to study how improvements to preparedness and infrastructure might help to respond to maritime emergencies in a warming and busier Arctic. Third, I am part of a large team led by Dr. Stanley Grant at Virginia Tech University studying the governance of a problem known as “freshwater salination syndrome” in a watershed in Northern Virginia. My work on the concept of “focusing events,” for which I am best known, is ongoing.

Recent Publications

Petridou, Evangelia, Jörgen Sparf, Nikolaos Zahariadis, and Thomas Birkland. 2024. Policy Entrepreneurs, Crises, and Policy Change. Elements in Public Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/policy-entrepreneurs-crises-and-policy-change/97BF2ECC4E38A50B3C14D4606F747C5B

Rippy, Megan A., Benjamin H. Roston, Emily Berglund, Payam Aminpour, Lauren Krauss, Shantanu Bhide, Todd Schenk, Kristin Rowles, Shalini Misra, Thomas Birkland, Sujay S. Kaushal, Stanley B. Grant. 2025. (accepted in press). “Characterizing the social-ecological system for inland freshwater salinization using fuzzy cognitive maps: Implications for collective management.” Ecology and Society.

Crow, Deserai A., Elizabeth A. Albright, Kristin Taylor, Rob A. DeLeo, Thomas A. Birkland,; Elizabeth A. Shanahan. 2025 (accepted in press): Learning from Crisis: COVID-19 Agenda Change, Learning, and a Future Research Agenda,” International Review of Public Policy. 

DeLeo, Rob A., Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Kristin Taylor, Nathan Jeschke, Deserai Crow, Thomas A. Birkland, Elizabeth Koebele, Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, Courtney Welton‐Mitchell, Sandhya Sangappa, Elizabeth Albright, and Honey Minkowitz. 2024. “COVID-19 Memorable Messages as Internal Narratives: Stability and Change over Time.” Policy Sciences, July. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-024-09538-5.

Taylor, Kristin, Rob A. DeLeo, Stephanie Zarb, Nathan Jeschke, and Thomas A. Birkland. 2023. “Subnational Focusing Events and Agenda Change: The Case of Toxic Algae Bloom and Contaminated Drinking Water in Toledo, Ohio.” In A Modern Guide to the Multiple Streams Framework, edited by Nikolaos Zahariadis, Nicole Herweg, Reimut Zohlnhöfer, and Evangelia Petridou, 222–45. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802209822.00022.

Birkland, Thomas, Rob DeLeo, and Kristin Taylor. 2023. “Federalism in Disaster Management in the United States.” In Jahrbuch Des Föderalismus 2023, edited by Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismus-Forschung Tübingen (EZFF), 28–39. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748918776-28.

Taylor, Kristin, Rob. A. DeLeo, Elizabeth Albright, Elizabeth A. Koebele, Thomas A. Birkland, and Deserai Anderson Crow. 2023 “Estimating the Effect of Policy Entrepreneurship on Individual Vaccination Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” European Policy Analysis. Early view. DOI: 10.1002/epa2.1198.

Shanahan, Elizabeth A, Rob A DeLeo, Elizabeth A Albright, Meng Li, Elizabeth A Koebele, Kristin Taylor, Deserai Anderson Crow, Katie Dickenson, Honey Minkowitz, Thomas A. Birkland and Manli Zhang. 2023. “Visual Policy Narrative Messaging Improves COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake.” PNAS Nexus 2 (4): pgad080. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad080.

Taylor, Kristin, Rob A. DeLeo, Elizabeth A. Albright, Elizabeth A. Shanahan, Meng Li, Elizabeth A. Koebele, Deserai Anderson Crow, and Thomas A. Birkland. 2023. “Policy Entrepreneurs and Individuals: Influence and Behavior in Pandemic Response.” Public Administration Review 83 (5): 1246–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13629.

Grant, Stanley B., Megan A. Rippy, Thomas A. Birkland, Todd Schenk, Kristin Rowles, Shalini Misra, Payam Aminpour, et al. 2022. “Can Common Pool Resource Theory Catalyze Stakeholder-Driven Solutions to the Freshwater Salinization Syndrome?” Environmental Science & Technology, September, acs.est.2c01555. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c01555.

Crow, Deserai, Rob DeLeo, Elizabeth Albright, Kristin Taylor, Thomas Birkland, Manli Zhang, Elizabeth Koebele, Nathan Jeschke, Elizabeth Shanahan, and Caleb Cage. 2022. “Policy Learning and Change During Crisis: COVID-19 Policy Responses Across Six States,” Review of Policy Research.  doi: 10.1111/ropr.12511

Taylor, Kristin, Rob A DeLeo, and Thomas A Birkland. “ 2022. “Agency and Legislative Oversight as Problem Feedback: The Case of the Mid-Michigan Dam Failures.” Wayne Law Review 68: 31–64.

Schwaeble, Kathryn, Thomas Birkland, Marie Lowe, Martha Grabowski, Daniel Jimenez, Thomas Sharkey, and William Wallace. 2022. “Emergency Response, Infrastructure, and Governance in Arctic Alaska” in Doris Friedrich, Markus Hirnsperger, Stefan Bauer. Eds. More than ‘Nature’: Research on Infrastructure and Settlements in the North. Vienna: LIT Verlag GmbH & Co.

Taylor, Kristin, Rob A. DeLeo, Deserai A. Crow and Thomas A. Birkland. 2022. “The U.S. Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Incoherent Leadership, Fractured Federalism, and Squandered Capacity.” In Nikolaos Zahariadis, Evangelia Petridou, Theofanis Exadaktylos, and Jörgen Sparf (eds.), Policy Styles and Trust in the Age of Pandemics: Global Threat, National Responses. New York and London: Routledge.

Birkland, Thomas A., Rob A. DeLeo, and Kristin Taylor. 2022. “Focusing Events” in Elgar Encyclopedia of European Union Public Policy, Paolo Graziano and Jale Tosun (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Dubljevic, Veljko, George List, Jovan Milojevich, Nirav Ajmeri, William A. Bauer, Munindar P. Singh, Eleni Bardaka, Thomas A. Birkland, et al. 2021. “Toward a Rational and Ethical Sociotechnical System of Autonomous Vehicles: A Novel Application of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.” PLOS ONE 16 (8): e0256224. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256224.

Birkland, Thomas A. Kristin Taylor, Deserai A Crow, Rob DeLeo. 2021. Governing in a Polarized Era: Federalism and the Response of U.S. State and Federal Governments to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Publius: The Journal of Federalism. pjab024, https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjab024

DeLeo, Rob A., Kristin Taylor, Deserai A. Crow, and Thomas A. Birkland. 2021. “During Disaster: Refining the Concept of Focusing Events to Better Explain Long-Duration Crises.” International Review of Public Policy 3 (3:1). http://journals.openedition.org/irpp/1868.

Bhide, Shantanu V., Stanley B. Grant, Emily A. Parker, Megan A. Rippy, Adil N. Godrej, Sujay Kaushal, Greg Prelewicz, Niffy Saji, Shannon Curtis, Peter Vikesland, Ayella Maile-Moskowitz, Mark Edwards, Kathryn G. Lopez, Thomas A. Birkland, Todd Schenk. 2021. “Addressing the Contribution of Indirect Potable Reuse to Inland Freshwater Salinization.” Nature Sustainability, April. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00713-7.

Roberts, Jennifer D, Katherine L Dickinson, Elizabeth Koebele, Lindsay Neuberger, Natalie Banacos, Danielle Blanch-Hartigan, Courtney Welton-Mitchell, and Thomas A Birkland. 2020. “Clinicians, Cooks, and Cashiers: Examining Health Equity and the COVID-19 Risks to Essential Workers.” Toxicology and Industrial Health 36 (9): 689–702. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748233720970439.

Lewis, Zachary; Schwaeble, Katy; Birkland, Tom. 2020. Crisis Agenda-Setting and Aviation Security Policy after the September 11 Attacks. In Encyclopedia of Crisis Analysis. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.ORE_POL-01595.R1.

Birkland, Thomas A. 2019. “Natural Hazards Governance: An Overview of the Field.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. 22 Nov. 2019; Accessed 26 Nov. 2019. https://oxfordre.com/naturalhazardscience/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.001.0001/acrefore-9780199389407-e-358.

Birkland, Thomas A., and Kathryn L. Schwaeble. 2019 “Agenda Setting and the Policy Process: Focusing Events.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. 26 Jun. 2019. https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-165.

Birkland, Thomas A. 2019. An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making, 5th ed. (New York: Routledge). (Prior editions, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015, M.E. Sharpe)

Area(s) of Expertise

My expertise is in two broad areas. First, i am an expert on what has come to be known as the public policy process. This is a subfield of political science that seeks to understand why we have the policies we have, how they change, and how they are implemented. I am also an expert on the politics natural hazards and disasters. I approach my work from two angles — as a subject matter expert in this field, and as a contributor to public policy theory. In particular, my main interests are What causes some events to get on the agenda, while others do not? and Do we learn anything from sudden "focusing events" to prevent disastrous events from recurring or from being as damaging as their precursors?