Chris Koliba

Selected Books and Edited Volumes

Koliba, C. and Callahan, R. 2026. Symposium Co-Editor. Cross Examining the Relationship Between Democracy and Public Administration. Symposium on Democracy and Public Administration.  Public Administration Review.

Voets, J., Keast, R. and Koliba, C., Editors. 2019. Networks and Collaboration in the Public Sector: Essential Research Approaches, Methodologies and Analytic Tools. London:  Routledge Press. 


Koliba, C., Meek, J., Zia, A. and Mills, R. 2019.Governance Networks in Public Administration and Public Policy (Second edition). Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge Press.

Recent Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

Koliba, C. Bell, D. and Morris, I. 2026. Inclusive Governance as a Bedrock Principle of Liberal Democracy: Overcoming the Gaps Between Ideals and Reality.  In Siddiki, S. and Ambrose, G. Editors. Handbook on Inclusive Governance.  Boca Raton, FL: Routledge Press.

Koliba, C., Herath, K., Esham, M., Kuruppu, V., and Kumara, D. 2024. Governance of Village Tank Cascade System Restoration: Role of Watershed Scale Coordinating Mechanisms for Aligning Interests and Services.  In Geekiyanage, N., Gunarathna, M.H.J.P., Ranagalage, M., Jayasinghe, G.Y., Perera, M.P., and Vithanage, M. (editors). Tank Cascade Systems of Sri Lanka: A Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Routledge Press.

Koliba, C. and Spett, E. 2023. What Public Administrators Need to Understand About Artificial Intelligence and Strategic Management. Handbook on Strategic Management. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Koliba, C., Gerrts, L., Rhodes, M-L. and Meek, J. 2022. Complexity Theory and Systems Analysis. Ansell, C. and Torfing, J. (editors) Handbook on Theories of Governance, Second edition. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. 364-379.

Voets, J., Brandsen, T., Koliba, C. and Verschuere, B. 2021. Collaborative Governance. Encyclopedia of Governance. Springer.

Zia, A. and Koliba, C. 2021. The Complexity of Integrating Sustainability with Transportation Asset Management Processes: Governance of Intergovernmental Decision-Making on Prioritizing Transportation Infrastructure Projects. J. Meek (editor) Handbook on Collaborative Management. Elgar Press.

Koliba, C. 2021. Mapping the Communities of Practice of Public Administrators. J. Meek (editor) Handbook on Collaborative Management. Elgar Press.

Koliba, C., Egler, M., and Posner, S. 2020. Governing for Sustainable Development: Rethinking Governance and Ecological Economics. In Costanza, R., Erikson, J., Farley, J. and Kubiszewski, I. (eds.). Sustainable Wellbeing Futures: A Research and Action Agenda for Ecological Economics.  London: Elgar. 

Koliba, C. 2019.  The Value Neutrality of “Smart” and “Self” Governance. In Koopenjan, J., Marcel Karre, P., and Termeer, K. (eds.) Smart Hybridity.  Potentials and challenges of new governance arrangements.  Amsterdam: Bestuurskunde (Public Administration). 

Selected Peer Reviewed Journal Publications and Conference Proceedings

Koliba, C. 2026. Diagnostic Tools for Assessing the Transgression of Democratic Accountability Standards. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvaf025

Swenson, M., Boczkowski, L., Riley, B., Broughton, N. and Koliba, C. (accepted for publication). Preemption and Generational Health Equity: The Role of Forced Inaction in Shaping Outcomes. The Milbank Quarterly.

Soares, R., Balerna, J. A., Quainoo, R., Merrill, S. C., Ali-Khan, M., Shrum, T. & Koliba, C. 2025. “The Great Vermont Floods of 2023”: A Risk and Crisis Communication Assessment. Society & Natural Resources. 1-23.  10.1080/08941920.2025.2553353

Merrill, S. C., Koliba, C., Soares, R., Quainoo, R., Clark, E., Shrum, T., Ali-Khan, M., Balerna, J., & Zia, A. 2025. Evidence for Overthinking and Poor Decision Making After Mistakes: Implications for Crisis and Risk Communication. International Crisis and Risk Communication Association Reports, 13(1), 9–12. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.69931/​001c.142819

Koliba, C. 2025.  Truth and Democratic Accountability: Considerations for the Public Sphere, Public Leadership, and Performance Management.  Public Performance Management Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/15309576.2025.2499814

Koliba, C. 2025. Democratic Accountability Standards and the Education of Public Administrators: A Call to Action.  Journal of Public Affairs Education.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15236803.2025.2459992

Koliba, C. 2025. Liberal Democratic Accountability Standards and Public Administration.  Public Administration Review. 1(11): 21-31. DOI: 10.1111/puar.13831

Bitterman, P. and Koliba, C. 2023. Engagement in Water Governance Action Situations in the Lake Champlain Basin.  PLOS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282797

Bitterman, P., Koliba, C. and Singer, A.  2023.  A Network Perspective on Multi-scale Water Governance in the Lake Champlain Basin, Vermont. Ecology & Society, 28(1): 44-48. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-14036-280144

Koliba, C., Merrill, S.C., Zia, A., Bucini. G., Clark, E., Shrum, T., Wiltshire, S. and Smith, J.M. 2022. Assessing Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Decision-Making and Risk in a Livestock Production Chain Through Experimental Simulation Platforms. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.962788

Zia, A., Schroth, A., Hecht, J.S., Isles, P., Clemins, P.J., Turnbull, S., Bitterman, P., Tsai, Y., Mohammed, I.N., Bucini, G., Doran, E.M.B., Koliba, C., Bomblies, A., Beckage, B., Winter, J., Adiar, E., Rizzo, D., Gibson, W. and Pinder, G. 2022. Climate Change-Legacy Phosphorus Synergy Hinders Lake Response to Aggressive Water Policy Targets. Earth’s Future.

Shrum, T.R., Nowak, S.A., Merrill, S.C., Hanley, J.P., Clark, E.M., Zia, A., and Koliba, C. 2022. Pro-Environmental Attitudes, Altruism, and COVID-19 Risk Management Behavior. Journal of Risk Research. 10.31235/osf.io/fm29j

Bitterman, P. and Koliba, C. 2020. Modeling Alternative Collaborative Governance Network Designs: An Agent-Based Model of Water Governance in the Lake Champlain Basin, Vermont.Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, muaa13, 636-655.  https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaa013

Wiltshire, S., Zia, A., Koliba, C., Buccini, G., Clark, E., Merrill, S., Smith, J. and Moegenburg, S. 2019. Network Meta-metrics: Identifying Effective Indicators of Epidemiological Vulnerability in a Livestock Production System Model.Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASS). 22(2). <http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/22/2/8.html&gt;

Coleman, S., Hurley, S. Koliba, C., and Zia, C. 2017. Crowdsourced Delphis: Designing Solutions to Complex Environmental Problems with Broad Stakeholder Participation. Global Environmental Change. 41: 111-123.

Scheinert, S., Zia, A. and Koliba, C. 2017. Growing Collaborations: Forecasting Changes in Partnership Networks using a Bottom-Up Approach. Journal on Policy & Complex Systems. 3(1):3-27.

Kapucu, N. and Koliba, C. 2017. The Use of Competency-based Portfolio as Pedagogical Tool and Assessment Strategy in MPA Programs. Journal of Public Affairs Education.

Koliba, C. Wiltshire, S., Scheinert, S. Turner, D., Zia, A., and Campbell, E. 2016. The Critical Role of Information Sharing
to the Value Proposition of a Food Systems Network. Public Management Review. doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2016.1209235

Mills, R., Koliba. C. and Reiss, D. 2016. Ensuring Compliance from 35,000 Feet: Accountability and Trade-Offs in Aviation Safety Regulatory Networks. Administration & Society. 0095399716656223.

Koliba, C., Zia, A., Schroth, A., Bomblies, A., Van Houten, J., and Rizzo, D. 2016. Lake Champlain Basin as a Complex Adaptive System: Key Findings from the Research on Adaptation to Climate Change Project. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. 17(4): 533-563.

Romolini, M., Grove, M., Ventriss, C., Koliba, C. and Krmkowski, D. 2016. Towards an Understanding of Citywide Urban Environmental Governance: An Examination of Stewardship Networks in Baltimore and Seattle. Environmental Management. DOI 10.1007/s00267-016-0704-4

Kanwar, P., Koliba, C., Greenhalgh, S. and Bowden, W.B. 2015. An Institutional Analysis of the Kaipara Harbour Governance Network in New Zealand. Society & Natural Resources. DOI:10.1080/08941920.2016.1144838

Tsai, Y., Zia, A., Koliba, C., Bucini, G., Guilbert, J., and Beckage, B. 2015.  An Interactive Land Use 

Transition Agent-Based Model (ILUTABM): Endogenizing Human Environment Interactions at 

Watershed Scales. Land Use Policy. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.07.008

Koliba, C., DeMenno, M., Brune, N. and Zia, A. 2014. The Salience and Complexity of Building, Regulating and Governing the Smart Grid: Lessons from a Statewide Public-Private Partnership.  Energy Policy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.09.013

Mills, R. and Koliba, C. 2014. The Challenge of Accountability in Complex Regulatory Networks: The Case of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Regulation & Governance. DOI:10.1111/rego.12062

Zia, A., Kauffman, S., Koliba, C., Beckage, B., Vattay, G., and Bomblies, A.  2013. From the Habit of Control to Institutional Enablement: Re-envisioning Governance of Social Ecological Systems from the Perspective of Complexity Sciences.  Complexity, Governance and Networks. 1(1). DOI: 10.7564/14-CGN4

Zia, A. and Koliba, C. 2013. The Emergence of Attractors Under Multi-Level Institutional Designs: Agent-based Modeling of Intergovernmental Decision Making for Funding Transportation Projects. Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Society. DOI 10.1007/s00146-013-0527-2

Koliba, C., Campbell, E. and Zia, A.  2011. Performance Measurement Considerations in Congestion Management Networks: Evidence from Four Cases. Public Performance Management Review. 34(4): 520-548.

Koliba, C., Zia, A., and Lee, B. 2011. Governance Informatics: Utilizing Computer Simulation Models to Manage Complex Governance Networks.The Innovation Journal: Innovations for the Public Sector. 16(1). Article 3:2-25.

Koliba, C., Mills, R. and Zia, A. 2011. Accountability in Governance Networks: Implications Drawn from Studies of Response and Recovery Efforts Following Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review. 71(2): 210-220. [Winner: 2011 Marshall Dimock Award for Best Lead Article, PAR]

Koliba, C. and Gajda (Woodland), R. 2009. Communities of Practice as an Empirical Construct: Implications for Theory and Practice.  International Journal of Public Administration. 32. 97-135.

Gajda (Woodland), R. and Koliba, C. 2008. Evaluating and Improving the Quality of Teacher Collaboration: A Field-Tested Framework for School Leaders. NASSP Bulletin. 92 (2): 133-154.

Farley, J., Baker, D. Batker, D., Koliba, C., Matteson, R., Mills, R. and Pittman, J. 2007. Opening the Policy Window for Paradigm Shifts: Katrina as a Focusing Event. Ecological Economics. 63(2-3): 344-354.

Koliba, C. 2007. On Sharpening Knives and Governing Networks. Administrative Theory & Praxis. 29(2): 321-325.

Gajda, (Woodland) R. and Koliba, C. 2007. Evaluating the Imperative of Intra-Organizational Collaboration: A School Improvement Perspective. American Journal of Evaluation. 28(1): 26-44.

Koliba, C. and Lathrop, J. 2007. Inquiry as Intervention: Employing Action Research to Support an Organization’s Capacity to Learn. Administration & Society. 39(1): 51-76.

Koliba, C. 2006. Serving the Public Interest Across Sectors: Assessing the Implications of Network Governance.Administrative Theory & Praxis. 28(4): 593-601.