Graduate Defense: Melanie Fillmore

Dissertation Information

Title: Redefining Missing In The “Third Space Of Sovereignty”

Program: Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy and Administration

Advisor: Dr. Brian Wampler, School of Public Service

Committee Members: Dr. Lane Gillespie, School of Allied Health Sciences; Dr. Libby Lunstrum, School of Public Service; and Dr. Sophia Borgias, School of Public Service

Abstract

This three-article dissertation addresses how Indigenous and non-Indigenous state and non-state policy actors collaborating on Idaho missing and murdered Indigenous persons (MMIP) policy shift the Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance (IFCG) policy context to the ‘third space of sovereignty’(Bruyneel, 2007). In a space of competing narratives of authority across time, and space, paper one addresses how Indigenous and non-Indigenous policy actors are shaped by the “drivers” of collaboration. The second paper addresses three key configurations of collaborative governance regimes. The third paper reassesses the scope of Idaho MMIP through a comparison of MMIP cases in 2021 and 2023 as a policy impact. Findings suggest Indigenous policy actors develop consequential incentives, collaborative governance regimes, and assess the scope of MMIP to redefine missing within the ‘third space of sovereignty’.