Session 7. 6.

This paper explores the methodological contributions of institutional grammar in analyzing how international obligations under the Paris Agreement are translated into national decision-making procedures. The study focuses on the formulation of Brazil’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which reflect the country’s climate commitments to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, as required by Article 4(2) of the Paris Agreement.

The case study covers Brazil’s first three NDC submissions (2016, 2020, and 2022). In the first part, institutional grammar version 2.0 is applied to encode the administrative processes and legal documents associated with these NDCs. This section identifies key legal and procedural elements, such as mandates, responsibilities, and discretionary spaces, revealing how international obligations are interpreted and implemented domestically. The study explores how institutional grammar helps analyze ex ante procedural choices during the NDC formulation phase.

The second part examines how institutional grammar contributes to understanding institutional development through the interaction between administrative decisions and judicial review ex post NDC formulation. It analyzes Brazilian climate litigation cases, encoding the parties' arguments and the judicial decisions through institutional grammar. The findings illustrate how institutional grammar captures changes in institutional statements as they evolve in judicial proceedings.

As countries periodically update their NDCs, understanding how global commitments are translated into national policies is essential for achieving meaningful climate action. So, this paper contributes to the field of climate governance by demonstrating the potential of institutional grammar in legal research, offering research tools for analyzing legal frameworks, administrative procedures, and judicial cases.

The use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in tandem with the Institutional Grammar is a promising way to speed up the process of breaking down and categorizing institutional accounts, advancing the analysis of institutional arrangements. However, the application of LLMs comes with challenges of its own, especially when working with data - such as historical datasets - that are divergent from the data that the model was trained on. Applying the open-source Phi-3-mini model, this paper assesses how commoners historically managed environmental resources through self-governance, with a focus on the rules they developed over time to address environmental limitations. By applying grammatical and content-based analysis, we will assess the environmental literacy embedded in these regulations and evaluate their effectiveness in translating that literacy into actionable governance. At the same time, we will highlight the opportunities, pitfalls, and limitations to be reckoned with when applying LLMs to historical data.

This study seeks to answer the central question: What is the governance approach of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Heilbronn? While entrepreneurial ecosystems have garnered increasing attention, there is a persistent gap in the literature regarding the governance mechanisms that regulate these systems, particularly the interaction of formal and informal institutions. To address this gap, this research employs the Institutional Grammar (IG) method as a novel tool for analyzing governance in entrepreneurial ecosystems. The IG method offers a systematic approach to decoding institutional statements, allowing for a more precise understanding of the institutional environment in which entrepreneurship occurs. Unlike traditional governance frameworks, the IG method provides a fine-grained analysis of how institutions, both formal and informal, shape actor behavior and collaboration within an entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Through a detailed analysis of institutional statements from key ecosystem actors, the research illuminates the specific institutional arrangements that govern entrepreneurial activity. The findings provide insights into how governance structures either facilitate or constrain entrepreneurial behaviors and interactions, offering practical recommendations for enhancing governance mechanisms within similar ecosystems. This research extends the methodological toolkit for studying entrepreneurial ecosystems and contributes to a deeper understanding of how institutional governance can support the development and sustainability of entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Groundwater management in Iran is complex and challenged by increasing water scarcity and groundwater depletion. Despite changes in the country's water policies and laws, groundwater depletion has intensified. This study analyses two key groundwater laws - the Equitable Distribution of Water Resources Law (1983) and the Ta'een Taklif Law (2010) - to systematically identify the challenges embedded in these laws that may contribute to accelerating groundwater depletion. Using Institutional Grammar, the two laws were analyzed according to the ADICO components: Attribute, Deontic, aIm, Condition, and Or else. The paper decomposes the laws to understand their structure and linguistic specificity when expressing the deontic. The analysis shows that the predominant nature of both laws is norm-based, with minimal use of formal sanctions for enforcement. The EDWR law consists mainly of norms, with only a small percentage of statements containing 'Or else' components, which are essential for a statement to be considered a rule. The Ta'een Taklif law further reduces the number of rule-based statements, with the overwhelming majority being norms without concrete punishments or fines (Or else), despite expectations that it would provide a stronger formal tool against illegal wells. This legal feature may reflect that social compliance with norms is sufficient for regulation. However, it could be problematic if the collective understanding in social communities does not function accordingly. It may also indicate a gap in the legal framework where the consequences of non-compliance are not clearly defined. The paper highlights the need to revisit the fundamental IG topic of differentiating between rules and norms. It is crucial to address the gap between prevailing norms and enforceable rules to create a robust and responsive groundwater management system.
Keywords: ADICO Syntax; Groundwater Law; Illegal Wells; Institutional Grammar; Iranian Water Policy