Gec Conceptual Framework

---
name: gec-conceptual-framework
description: Use when building the conceptual or analytical framework for a Global Environmental Change (GEC) manuscript. GEC values theoretically rigorous, interdisciplinary work, so the framework must connect concepts (vulnerability, governance, transitions, socio-ecological systems) to the empirical analysis. Builds the framework; it does not run the analysis.
---

# Conceptual Framework (gec-conceptual-framework)

GEC publishes work that is **theoretically and empirically rigorous**. The conceptual framework is what
makes a human-dimensions paper more than a description: it names the concepts, specifies how they relate,
and dictates what evidence would confirm or disconfirm the argument. This is the heart of a GEC paper —
treat it as a load-bearing contribution, not boilerplate.

## When to trigger

- Defining the concepts, mechanisms, and relationships the paper rests on
- A reviewer said the paper is "atheoretical," "descriptive," or "the framework does no work"
- Adapting an established framework (IPCC vulnerability, Ostrom SES/IAD, MLP transitions, livelihoods)
- Building an original framework or integrating two traditions

## What a strong GEC framework does

1. **Generates the question.** The framework should make clear *why* the question follows — the gap
   from `gec-literature-positioning` is what it is built to close.
2. **Defines concepts precisely.** Vulnerability, adaptive capacity, resilience, governance, transition,
   equity — these are contested terms. State which definition you use and why.
3. **Specifies relationships and mechanisms.** Name the causal or constitutive links (driver → pressure
   → response; hazard × exposure × vulnerability; actors × institutions × outcomes). A diagram often helps.
4. **Dictates the evidence.** The framework must say what observations would support or undermine it —
   this is the bridge to `gec-research-design`.
5. **Is interdisciplinary by construction.** Connect a domain concept to a social-science concept so the
   framework speaks across GEC's literatures.

## Common frameworks (adapt, don't decorate)

| Tradition | Core lens | Watch for |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Vulnerability / risk | hazard × exposure × vulnerability; entitlements; livelihoods | conflating risk with hazard; ignoring social differentiation |
| Socio-ecological systems | IAD / SES (Ostrom); feedbacks; commons | box-ticking the framework without using it |
| Sustainability transitions | multi-level perspective; niches/regimes/landscape | treating transitions as automatic, apolitical |
| Governance | polycentric / adaptive / multi-level governance | describing institutions without explaining outcomes |
| Political ecology | power, scale, access, distribution | narrative with no analytic structure |

## Anti-patterns

- Citing a framework in the intro then never using it to structure the analysis
- A "kitchen-sink" framework with every fashionable concept and no mechanism
- Undefined contested terms (resilience, vulnerability) used loosely
- A framework that cannot be confronted with evidence (unfalsifiable)

## Output format

```
【Core concepts】defined (with the definition chosen)
【Relationships / mechanism】the links the framework asserts
【Interdisciplinary link】the domain ↔ social-science connection
【Evidence implied】what would confirm / disconfirm it
【Diagram?】yes/no (recommended for complex frameworks)
【Next】gec-research-design
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — conceptual frameworks and systems-mapping tools
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — GEC emphasis on theoretical rigor