Dara O'Rourke

Associate Professor
Ph.D.  Energy and Resources    UC Berkeley, 1999
BS   Mechanical Engineering    MIT, 1989

130B Giannini Hall
Berkeley, California 94720
orourke@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-643-3110   lab: 510-643-5510   fax:  510-643-2504

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My research focuses on the environmental, social, and equity impacts of global production systems, and new strategies of democratic governance over these systems. I am currently studying changes in industrial production systems, strategies for preventing pollution and workplace health problems, and systems of monitoring multinational supply chains.

My research seeks to explore critical policy and theoretical questions through detailed analysis of different types of global supply chains and systems of regulation. I study changes underway in key industrial sectors, analyze their environmental, social, and health impacts, and evaluate current systems of regulation over these production networks. The research analyzes three interconnected dynamics: (1) current changes in the organization and control of specific production networks; (2) the life cycle impacts of these production networks on workers, communities, and the environment; and, (3) systems of regulation over these production networks. I am interested in both documenting impacts of current production systems, and then analyzing what works, when, and under what conditions, to effectively regulate impacts on workers, communities, and the environment.

I am also currently working to develop new information systems to inform consumers of the impacts of products and companies.

O’Rourke, Dara (2006), “Multi-stakeholder Regulation: Privatizing or Socializing Global Labor Standards?” World Development, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 899–918.

O’Rourke, Dara (2005), “Market Movements: Nongovernmental Strategies to Influence Global Production and Consumption” Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 9, no. 1-2.

O’Rourke, Dara (2004), Community-Driven Regulation: Balancing Development and the Environment in Vietnam, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

O’Rourke, Dara and Eungkyoon Lee (2004), “Mandatory Planning for Environmental Innovation: Evaluating Regulatory Mechanisms for Toxics Use Reduction,” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, vol. 47, no. 2, March.

O’Rourke, Dara (2004), “Transition Environments: Ecological and Social Challenges to Post-Socialist Industrial Development,” in R. Peet and M. Watts (eds.) Liberation Ecologies, London: Routledge, pp.: 244-270.

O’Rourke, Dara (2004), “Community Monitoring and Corporate Accountability,” in A. Kuper (ed.) The Impact of Corporations on Global Governance, a report of the Empire and Democracy Project, New York: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.

O’Rourke, Dara (2004), Opportunities and Obstacles for Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in Developing Countries, policy paper prepared for the Corporate Social Responsibility Practice, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group.

O’Rourke, Dara and Garrett Brown (2003), “Experiments in Transforming the Global Workplace: Incentives and Impediments to Improving Workplace Conditions in China,” International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, vol. 9, no. 4, October/December, pp. 378-385.