ELLENHOLTMAAT
BIO
I am a teaching fellow at the London School of Economics, teaching courses on international political economy, environmental politics and international business. I got my PhD in International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where I researched private sustainability standards in the cut flower sector in Kenya, under the co-supervision of Professor David Sylvan (Political Science) and Professor Jean-Louis Arcand (Economics). For the academic year 2018/2019 I was based in Seattle, USA as a Graduate Fellow at the Center for Environmental Politics at the University of Washington, where I worked with Professor Aseem Prakash.
I was born in the Netherlands. While I was studying for my bachelor's degree in Utrecht I went on exchange to Rhodes University in South Africa. It was there that I got interested in Political Economy when taking a course on Economic Diplomacy in the World Trade Organization (WTO). I did a master's in International Relations in Amsterdam and a master's in Political Economy at the University of Essex in the UK. After finishing my masters I interned for 6 months at the WTO in Geneva. During my PhD I did an internship at the Trade and Environment Program at the International Trade Center (ITC).
My current interests outside work are road biking, running, dancing, meditation, singing, painting and spending time with friends.
RESEARCH STATEMENT
My research connects different disciplines and substantive areas. Building on a background of international relations, political economy and economics, I aim to understand the phenomenon of private governance, its character, dynamics and impact in the context of developing countries. I draw on theories in international political economy, environmental politics and industrial organization. I use several methods, quantitative as well as qualitative and simulation in the form of agent-based modeling.
As a case study I look at private sustainability standards in the flower sector in Kenya.
RESEARCH
THE GLOBAL DIFFUSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CLUBS
Co-authored paper with Christopher Adolph and Aseem Prakash at the University of Washington: "The global diffusion of environmental clubs: how pressure from importing countries supports the chemical industry's Responsible Care® program", World Development, 2020.
This paper addresses the global diffusion of the chemical industry's Responsible Care program. We find that this program spreads to countries via the 'California Effect'. Adoption is more likely when a country exports chemicals to another country that has joined Responsible Care, whereas exposure to global markets per se does not determine adoption.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACCIDENTS AND FIRMS' REPUTATION
Co-authored paper with William McGuire and Aseem Prakash at the University of Washington
Under review
Environmental governance scholars recognize that firms adopt specific environmental practices to enhance their environmental reputations. This is a central assumption of the literature on voluntary environmental standards as an alternative to traditional forms of environmental regulation. Yet, firms are subjected to negative exogenous shocks that can damage their reputations for protecting the health and safety of their employees and communities. How long does this damage last? To what extent do all firms in the industry, as opposed to the specific firm that suffered the accident, suffer reputational damage?
PRIVATE STANDARDS AND INEQUALITY
Co-authored paper with Roberto Calisti.
Under review
We built an agent-based model of the flower sector in Kenya and look whether the introduction of private sustainability standards, which are directed at environmental and or social development, do actually exacerbate or diminish existing inequalities between flower farms through unintended consequences of these standards like first mover advantages and standards' impact on trade relationships.
VARIETY OF STANDARDS
Work in progress
Private sustainability standards come in many shapes and forms. Research often highlights the differences between these standards. This paper dives in to the strategic reasons for these differences. Why do not all standards aim to be strict? And why do firms sometimes desire stricter standards than the NGOs setting them. Are weak standards signs of greenwashing, or are weak standards actually optimal?
PRIVATE STANDARDS AND GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS
Work in progress
This research addresses the interaction between 'type' of standard and 'type' of global value chain, together explaining the uptake of standards on farm level, looking at the flower sector in Kenya. Standards set by civil society stay limited to particular value chains, whereas self-regulation by producers creates standards that are taken up across the board. These different types of standards have therefore a very different impact on development.
COMRADES OR ACQUAINTANCES?
In collaboration with Yixian Sun, Yale
Work in progress
We do a social network analysis of transnational sustainability standard communities in meta-governance organizations. This paper asks: what forces shape interactions among standards in the meta-governance networks and how do such interactions change over time? We focus on ISEAL Alliance, the most influential meta-governance organization of sustainability standards, and investigate three types of ties linking 21 ISEAL members from 2012 to 2017 – collaboration and partnerships, board interlocks, and joint funders.
GROWTH-EMISSION DECOUPLING
This is a co-authored paper with Aseem Prakash and Christopher Adolf.
Work in progress
Some countries experience economic growth without increasing their carbon emissions. This “growth-emission decoupling” could be explained either by a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy or by “carbon leakages” whereby the domestic production of emission-intensive products ceases but the country imports these products from abroad. Working with a dataset of 147 countries over the period, 1990-2014, we find that the ‘outsourcing’ of carbon emissions has 5 times as much salience in explaining the reduction in carbon emissions, in relation to as the switch to renewable energy.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Volkskrant, May 26 2021
The right incentives need to be created to give us the best shot at reducing climate change, and limiting the supply of fossil fuel sets the right incentives to achieve this. Like this, economic forces work in our favor.
LSE blog, March 1st 2021
Governments could at least request carbon neutral behavior from their citizens. The corona crisis has shown that demanding people’s help and contribution can make a large difference for the creation and protection of public goods – in this case protecting the health of the population. People often follow the voluntary guidelines from the government. I argue that this voluntary contribution to a common good can be harnessed in mitigating global warming as well.
Volkskrant, August 27, 2020
Op-ed in Dutch newspaper arguing that governments could at least request carbon neutral behavior from their citizens. The corona crisis has shown that demanding people’s help and contribution can make a large difference for the creation and protection of public goods – in this case protecting the health of the population. I argue that this voluntary contribution to a common good can be harnessed in mitigating global warming as well.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching is one of the pleasures of my job. I won the Class Teacher Award at LSE 2020/2021. At LSE I obtained a Postgraduate Certification for Teaching in Higher Education. Also during my PhD at the Graduate Institute I have followed a teaching development program where I learned valuable teaching skills and the case study method. I have been teaching at LSE since 2019 and before that from 2014-2018 at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
LSE, 2020, 2021
Prof. Robert Falkner
An introduction to concepts and issues in the study of global environmental politics, with special emphasis on the political economy of environmental protection. I taught the seminars for this course.
GLOBAL BUSINESS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Prof. Robert Falkner
LSE, 2020, 2021
A course over the role of global business in global governance and the governance of global business. I taught the weekly seminars for this course and organised extra-curricular activities with speakers from the WTO and Nike.
INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
LSE, 2019
Prof. Jeffrey Chwieroth
It introduces students to various approaches to the study of international political economy (IPE), and to apply theories to important contemporary empirical issues.
I taught the seminars for this core course for IPE master students
STATISTICS
Prof. Melanie Kolbe
Graduate Institute - 2014 - 2018
I have been teaching the tutorials for the statistics course for PhD students. These tutorials involved the discussion of statistical methods and their application in Stata. We covered OLS, MLE, logit, count and event history models and the analysis of panel data. I also supervised the students' research projects.
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
Prof. Nico Krish
Graduate Institute - 2016 - 2018
I was the head teaching assistant for this master's course, coordinating with fellow teaching assistants and discussing course content with professors. My responsibilities were the organization and teaching of the tutorials, for which we came up with interesting formats to support the more practical application of the lecture content. I assisted in the grading of the papers and supported students in developing their writing skills.
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF DEVELOPMENT
Prof. Shailaja Fennell
Graduate Institute - 2014 - 2015
For this master's course I organized and taught the tutorials. I assisted students in understanding the course content and in improving their academic writing skills. I had feedback sessions with students to discuss their papers.
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Prof. Ugo Panizza
Graduate Institute - 2014 - 2015
I taught the tutorials and assisted students in writing their course papers. I also taught a lecture and did the general organization of the course
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Prof. Simon Evenett
Graduate Institute - 2016
For this course I provided organizational support.
GUEST LECTURER
University of Washington - 2018/2019
Climate Politics: I taught two class sessions. One on climate litigation and one on the business dimension of climate change.
Private Sustainability Standards: I taught a session on private sustainability standards to Business students in a class on Corporate Social Responsibility at the Tacoma campus.
RESUME
FELLOW
Department of International Relations, London School of Economics, London, UK
Teaching seminars on international political economy, environmental politics and international business
PHD INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland
Research on private governance, voluntary standards, trade and sustainable development.
Minor in International Economics with a focus on International Trade.
Supervision: Prof. David Sylvan and Prof. Jean Louis Arcand.
GRADUATE FELLOW
Center for Environmental Politics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Research on chemical industry's Responsible Care program (in collaboration with Aseem Prakash and Christopher Adolph)
Research on Multilateral Environmental Agreements (in collaboration with Aseem Prakash and Christopher Adolph)
Research on growth-emissions decoupling (in collaboration with Aseem Prakash)
Research on reputational damage after corporate environmental disasters (in collaboration with William McGuire and Aseem Prakash)
MASTER POLITICAL ECONOMY
University of Essex, Colchester, UK
Thesis: “Offshorability and the Lobby for Immigrant Labor”, using cross-sectional analysis. Supervision: Prof. Thomas Plümper.
MASTER INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (CUM LAUDE)
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Thesis: “Neoliberal Policies and International Organizations: The OECD and Higher Education Policy”, using discourse analysis, analyzing interviews and OECD documents. Supervision: Prof. Jeffrey Harrod.
BACHELOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL SCIENCE
University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Thesis: “Learning in the Organization: Monitoring and Evaluation”. Research conducted for development organization Highway Africa in South Africa, using interviews, document analysis and observation. Supervision: Prof. Albert Meijer.
Exchange student at Rhodes University, South Africa.
SCHOLARSHIPS & GRANTS
Europaeum Fellowship, 2019
SDC Financial Award for Sustainability and Development Conference, Ann Arbor, USA, 2018
Doc.Mobility Fellowship, awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, project P1GEP1_181399
Bourse d’Excellence, Graduate Institute, 2015 – 2018
Departmental travel grant for ISA annual convention, Baltimore, USA, 2017
Departmental travel grant for fieldwork, Kenya, 2016
Trajectum scholarship, student exchange Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, 2007
ACADEMIC ARTICLES
Published:
Holtmaat, E.A., Adolph, C., Prakash, A. “The Global Diffusion of Environmental Clubs: The Chemical Industry’s Responsible Care Program”, World Development, 2020
Work in progress:
Holtmaat, E.A. “Global Value Chains and the Uptake of Private Sustainability Standards”
Holtmaat, E.A., Prakash, A., Adolph, C. “Explaining Country Participation in International Environmental Treaties”
Holtmaat, E.A., Prakash, A. “Explaining Growth-Emission Decoupling: 1990-2014."
Holtmaat, E.A. “Modeling the Diffusion of Private Standards in a Trade Network – The Case of Kenyan Cut-Flower Producers”
Prakash, A., McGuire, W., Holtmaat, E.A. "Do Environmental Accidents Damage Firms and Industry Reputations? The Case of Deepwater Horizon"
Sun, Y., Holtmaat, E.A. “Comrades or Acquaintances? Social network analysis of transnational sustainability standard communities in meta-governance organizations”
Holtmaat, E.A., “Variety of Private Sustainability Standards: A Club Theory Approach”
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS & TALKS
Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), Chicago, 2019
International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention, Toronto, 2019
Sustainability and Development Conference, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2018
European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference, Hamburg, 2018
4thAnnual Duck Family Graduate Workshop on Environmental Politics and Governance, Center for Environmental Politics, University of Washington, Seattle, 2018
“Variety of Private Sustainability Standards: A Club Theory Approach” – Lunch Seminar, Center for International Environmental Studies, Graduate Institute, Geneva, 2018
“Private Sustainability Standards Uptake: From Firm Characteristics towards a Supply Chain and Trade Relations Explanation” –IHEID IRPS Colloquium Series, Graduate Institute, Geneva, 2018
“Variety of Private Sustainability Standards: A Club Theory Approach” – Brown Bag Lunch, Economics Department, Graduate Institute, Geneva, 2018
European Political Science Association (EPSA) Conference, Milan, 2017
International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention, Baltimore, 2017
Swiss Political Science Conference, St. Gallen, 2017
WORK EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, 2015
Assistant for Prof. David Sylvan for his work on US foreign policy.
Intern, Trade and Environment Program, International Trade Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, 01/2016 – 04/2016
Policy Analyst (intern), Trade Policy Review Division, World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 07/2012 – 01/2013
Personal Assistant of Kati Piri, candidate European Parliament, Amsterdam, 02/2014 – 05/2014
Teaching Assistant, Nyenrode Business University, Woerden, 08/2008 - 12/2009
President Organizing Committee AGM Erasmus Student Network (ESN), Utrecht, 03/2007 - 06/2008
Activities Coordinator, Erasmus Student Network (ESN), Utrecht, 08/2007 - 08/2008
SKILLS
Languages: Dutch (native), English (fluent), French (intermediate), German (intermediate).
Computer skills: Microsoft Office, Latex.
Analytical programs: Stata (proficient), SPSS (intermediate), R (entry level), NetLogo (intermediate), NVivo (intermediate), MAXQDA (proficient)
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