Conference Paper

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10535/4

Browse By

Now showing 1 - 60 of 4066

Challenges and opportunities of mineral extraction for energy transition on Indigenous land
(2024) Kellner, Elke
Energy transition is a critical aspect of fulfilling the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, given that approximately two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions stem from energy-related sources. Low-carbon technologies are pivotal in this transition, leading to an increased demand for minerals. Limiting global warming to 2 °C to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement requires a quadrupling of minerals by 2040 than today. Given the current low recovery and recycling rate of these minerals, a substantial portion of the mineral supply must originate from new sources, resulting in an increase in mining activities. The current geopolitical situation, e.g., China's significant control over mineral extraction and refining processes, has led to an increase in domestic mining projects in the Global North. Particularly concerning is the trend of these projects being situated on Indigenous land. A recent publication shows that more than 50 % of mining projects for energy transition are located on or near Indigenous land. 29% of these projects are on land where Indigenous peoples are recognized as managing or exercising some form of control or influence. Indigenous communities, in contrast to recent settlers or colonizers in these regions, rely directly on local natural resources for their livelihoods. This dependency makes them highly vulnerable to environmental changes in addition to their relationships to nature and place-based identity. Consequently, they are particularly exposed to the environmental repercussions of mining activities such as the processes of mining, rehabilitation, and closure. This article gives an overview of the challenges and opportunities of mineral extraction on Indigenous land based on recent literature and exemplary examples. Further, it suggests how western-based social-ecological systems frameworks could be adapted to integrate Indigenous ontologies.
Cultural fit of institutions: A critical condition to make the 30 by 30 initiative successful
(2024) Kellner, Elke
After extensive negotiations in the last years, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in December 2022. Target 3 of the framework aims to elevate the global coverage of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures to a minimum of 30 per cent by the year 2030 (also called '30 x 30 initiative'). This goal is a fundamental component of the worldwide endeavour to halt and reverse the decline of biodiversity. However, it is also intended to bring about advantages for both biodiversity and human society by “recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories” (COP 15 2022). Scientists and conservation groups have lauded the ambitious framework, however, concerns persist such as goals to tackle the drivers of biodiversity loss and the lack of legally binding measures (Gilbert 2022). Social scientists pointed out that “achieving target 3 requires new knowledge about the social implications of different scenarios by which it might be implemented. Generating this knowledge will require innovative collaboration across disciplines and sectors.” (Sandbrook et al. 2023). Other scholars mention that the social and economic impacts of the initiative need to be more considered to address social and environmental justice concerns (Schleicher et al. 2019). Reyes-García et al. (2022) emphasize in their perspective on the post-2020 Biodiversity Agenda “that transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights and agency in biodiversity policy”. This presentation introduces the concept of cultural institutional fit which can be used to assess whether the institutions regulating protected areas adequately account for the different cultural knowledge systems, values, beliefs, customs, and resource uses of the affected human actors.
Four Decades of Polycentric Evolution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
(2024) Baehler, Karen; Biddle, Jennifer
This paper reports preliminary results from our application of Baldwin, Thiel, McGinnis, and Kellner's Context-Operations-Outcomes-Feedback (COOF) framework to the case of collaborative watershed management in the Chesapeake Bay region from the 1980s to the present. We provide a novel approach to operationalizing the framework and discuss its utility. Based on initial analysis, we find a low probability of a polycentric governance (PG) arrangement emerging and surviving in the Chesapeake Bay given the evidence of a larger volume of inhibiting conditions compared to enabling conditions in the period leading up to the establishment of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement (CBA) and Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) in 1983-84. Yet these polycentric programs not only formed, but also grew in size, scope, and rigor over the next four decades. Key inhibiting conditions, such as the chronic inability of state leaders to impose pollution limits on politically powerful interests (urban/suburban developers and farmers), have significantly slowed progress toward Bay restoration to date and generated large volumes of criticism. Despite the system's many weaknesses, the original partners (DC, MD, PA, VA and the EPA) have continued to participate, and new partners (DE, NY, and WV) have joined. Some progress has been made toward pollution reduction, and some indicators of Bay health have improved. The paper identifies primary and secondary games played by principal actors within the Bay's PG institutions and emphasizes the vital role play by litigation in maintaining accountability for progress.
Community-based water management: The case of unregulated self-governance of drinking water systems in coastal Bangladesh
(2024) Hossain, Mohammad Jobayer
Substantial progress has been made toward drinking water access globally, including in Bangladesh, where over 98% of people have basic water services. Bangladesh’s rural water supply policy deploys the responsibility of maintaining the water infrastructure solely to the community, which is performing well for 95% of the country's population for groundwater-based hand pump systems. However, the coastal region in Bangladesh still suffers from chronic water insecurity driven by complex socio-hydrology, resulting in no access to suitable groundwater. To access clean drinking water, this hazard-prone, low-income, climate change vulnerable community depends on community-based adaptation technologies (e.g., Rain-fed Pond, Pond Sand Filter, Rainwater Harvesting) subject to numerous limitations, particularly poor operation and management. Here, we used three theories of common-pool water management: (i) Ostrom’s design principles, (ii) collective action, and (iii) moral economies for water to evaluate the self-governance of the community-based Pond Sand Filter (PSF) system. Data was collected through individual interviews with water users and management personnel in January 2024 in two PSF sites (one functional and another non-functional system) in Khulna, coastal Bangladesh. Our initial findings reveal that the existing management system can be defined more by moral economies for water than collective action and design principles by ensuring access and equity but cannot guarantee sustainable self-governance. We argue that a functional system does not guarantee a good system. The functional PSF system has been running for more than ten years, but there is a lack of trust and accountability in water management. Along with the moral economies for water, we still need design principles and collective action for a sustainable self-governance system. Besides, the self-governance of these common pool resources is a risky responsibility due to the unbearable cost of maintenance and increased threats of climate change. This study will inform the decision maker to make necessary policy reforms to improve service delivery and ensure sustainable water in a low-income, hazard-prone, and climate-change context.
Dangers of Commonism, or Ostrom vs. the Commonizers
(2024) Theesfeld, Insa; McGinnis, Michael D.; Cole, Daniel H.
The community of scholars exploring governance and institutions for the management of an increasing range of resources systems is steadily growing. As long as we were dealing with classical, traditional natural resource governance, the resource units and property regimes were relatively easy to define. In the last two decades new commons and global commons have been added to the research agendas of commons scholars and gained lots of attention in society. The considered resource unit needs to be specified and may not always be subtractable nor the system excludable. The focus is not the appropriation, but rather the joint provision of the resource system. Following this thought, sometimes, commons have been interpreted as social constructions that guarantee the transformation of society towards sustainability and well-being. From a Bloomington School perspective, we want to critically review this development of the recent radical-normative use of the term “commoning.” After addressing the shifting meaning of “commoning” in the literature, our goal in this paper is to “rescue” “commons” as an analytical concept from normative “commonism.” Inter alia, we not only raise concerns but also offer suggestions for structuring empirical observations in the hope of inspiring more constructive discussion.
Reformatting Ostrom design principles to make corporations a Common Pool Resource: Using system science to extend Ostrom scholarship globally
(2024) Turnbull, Shann
Powerpoint slides
Fostering African Data Commons: Embracing the Philosophy of Ubuntu
(2024) Sun, Simon; Muhadia Shabaya, Marie; Kalema, Nai Lee
The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) in Africa is gaining attraction, serving as a driver for economic expansion and industrial progress across sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and education. However, the A.I. development in Africa is still in its nascent phase due to several factors, including the high cost with building data infrastructure, limited internet accessibility and a shortage of powerful computing resources essential for training A.I. models. Central to these challenges is the scarcity of access to high-quality training data, predominantly controlled by companies located outside of Africa, a phenomenon some describe as “data colonialism.” The fundamental problem arises from the proliferation of privacy-centric regulations embedded within various regulatory regimes and contractual agreements. Consent serves as the mechanism through which individuals in Africa relinquish their personal information. At its essence, data governance centers on the rights of individuals regarding their personal information, reflecting a regulatory philosophy originating in the West.
The Urban as Commons: theoretical underpinnings from Latin American practices and epistemologies
(2024) Basile, Patricia
What does it mean to understand the urban as commons? What are the material and theoretical specificities of Latin American urban communities in the making and governance of such urban commons? Within Latin American cities, there is a multiplicity of local experiences that have historically constructed and managed urban space through collective practices to fight and resist various forms of dispossession and violence. The empirical and theoretical heterogeneity and richness of such experiences offer unique perspectives for the understanding and theorization of the urban as commons. In this work, I analyze three collective modalities of space-making from Brazilian cities – urban occupations, favelas, and quilombos - to understand how their practices and epistemologies produce and manage the urban as commons. Rather than an empirical case study, this work draws on existing scholarship on these modalities to unravel and theorize their practices and ways of being as one that develops and governs the urban as commons. I highlight plurality, territorialities/spatiality, temporalities, and intersectionality as critical elements and contributions to understanding the urban as commons within the analyzed modalities. Finally, I reflect on how such practices contribute to spatial governance and the making of democracy within local and broader scales.
Securing the Moon: Exploring the Cybersecurity Dimensions of Sustainably Managing Lunar Resources
(2024) Shackelford, Scott; Torrens, Gustavo; Tepper, Eytan; Romano, James
Given the increasing number of public and private sector actors active in Lunar exploration, there is a growing need to ensure the sustainable and peaceful use of lunar resources including ice deposits. Such deposits are only available in certain places on the Moon’s surface such as Shackleton crater, making it a prime target for adjacent lunar bases. In future geopolitical conflicts this critical infrastructure could become a prime target, as has already been the case with both terrestrial water utilities and space-based infrastructure facing cyber attacks. This paper analyzes the applicable legal regimes governing space resources—focusing on water—and the cybersecurity of related infrastructure. With existing multilateral and multi-stakeholder forums such as the UN Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the UN First Committee struggling to introduce new legally binding rules, space powers are filling governance gaps with non-multilateral norm building efforts such as the Artemis Accords. We investigate the applicability of these efforts to space cybersecurity, and suggest insights drawn from the literature on polycentric governance, the Ostrom Design Principles, and the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework. The article concludes with a suggestion for a code of conduct to guide space actors in the peaceful and sustainable development of lunar resources.
Agroecological transitions and the political ecology of Elinor Ostrom : the role of ontologies and epistemic power in polycentric governance.
(2024) Mazé, Armelle
Agroecological transitions emerged over the last decade as a major issue into the political agenda in several European countries as a response to the loss of biodiversity and as the adoption of more resilient adaptation strategies to climate changes towards more sustainable food systems (Altieri 1995, 2005, Gliessman 2018; FAO ) . Whereas the Green Revolution after WWII was looking mainly in intensifying agricultural production and rising yields of major crops, such as wheat, rice, corn, sugar cane, in order to support food security and respond to quantitative nutritional needs of human populations (Patel, 2013). Retrospectively, this intensification of agricultural activities, through more specialized and monoculture of cropping systems is responsible for the large loss of biodiversity, as well as of many environmental degradations, such water pollution, soil erosion, etc. Concerns emerged about the declining trends and deteriorating ecological elements and their functions in productive agricultural landscapes (Francis et al. 2003). In this context, agroecology emerged as an alternative paradigm to conventional agriculture promoting on more diversified and resilient agri-food systems (Altieri, 1995; Gliessman, Francis et al. 2003; Wezel et al. 2009; Altieri et al 2015; Ollivier et al. 2018). The aim of this communication is to analyse, by proposing an extension of the IAD/SES frameworks (Ostrom (1990, 2009), to the polycentric governance of complex agroecosystems in the context of agroecological transitions. As stressed by Hess and Ostrom 2003 and Denzau and North (1993), It emphasizes the role of shared mental models and rationality involved in system thinking about the dynamics of polycentric governance (McGinnis and Ostrom 2014; Cole et al. 2019). A specific attention will be paid on the role of ontologies in setting the boundary systems and problem setting. To sustain our analysis, several case studies will be explored more precisely in relation to multi risk assesment in the context of climate change adaptation and agroecological transitions. From a classical perspective, farming activities are not considered by themselves as a shared common-pool resources (CPR), in contrast to specific natural resources, such as water, common pasture forestry, etc. that are in fact used and shared by farmers. By broadening her IAD/SES analytical framework, Ostrom (2009) offers new perspectives for the analysis of more complex social-ecological systems (SES), such as human-made agroecosystems and their related social-ecological landscapes. As stressed by Ostrom (2014) “a framework provides a shared orientation for studying, explaining, and understanding phenomena of interest” (Ostrom 2014,269). Our analysis especially emphasizes the role of ideas, artefact and infrastructure in supporting paradigm shift in knowledge regimes and the role of epistemic power in polycentric governance of agroecological transitions. Agroecological transitions are complex and multidimensional processes. Our analysis is sustained by two case studies. One related to the rise of peasant seed networks (Mazé et al. 221 a&b), and the other on recent public policies supporting the integration of sustainability dimensions in geographical indications systems (Mazé 2023).
The Power of Care in Youth-Led Commoning
(2024) Mudaliar, Praneeta; Dart, Lily; Gutierrez, Dannia Eyeli Philipp; Mankarios, Celina
The goals of the climate justice movement are to draw attention to how climate change impacts people differently, unevenly, and disproportionately, and to reduce marginalization, exploitation, and oppression, and enhance equity and justice. While a culture of hegemonic masculinity—has been—and is pervasive in major environmental organizations in North America where White men continue to lead these groups, young people, specifically, women in grassroots organizations have emerged as a significant force for encouraging collective action, protesting, representing in decision-making and youth advisory bodies, and partnerships to not just create and advocate for a lifestyle and policy that reflects their shared interests but also cultivate intentional communities. This phenomenon is referred to as “commoning,” where actors create new shared and relational processes, redesign institutions such as norms and rules around a shared interest to serve a common good, as well as develop new imaginaries of sharing and caring. Thus, care unfolds not only as a motivation for climate justice but also embeds itself in commoning to foster a sense of community and support within groups of young activists. In our research on female-led youth groups in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), we uncover the practices of care that emerge at the intersection of commoning and climate justice through the lens of race, gender, immigration status, and sexuality, by applying Fisher and Tronto’s framework of an ethic of care that includes actions of the powerful such as caring about and caring for, and actions of the less powerful such as caregiving and care-receiving. In doing so, we draw attention to uneven power dynamics in female-led youth groups. We find that youth in today's climate movements care about systemic inequalities and environmental justice, and advocate for policies that address climate impacts on marginalized communities. Care for takes the form of inclusive advocacy, promoting sustainable practices, and supporting communities affected by environmental degradation. Caregiving includes not only physical actions such as strikes and protests, but also giving emotional and social support through ‘care committees’ to foster resilience and create inclusive spaces for long-term engagement. However, modalities of caregiving differ across race, immigration status, and sexuality. In comparison to White people who might consider caregiving as participating in radical protesting, people of color and first-generation immigrants employ peaceful caregiving strategies in fear of systemic consequences, such as creating booklets on local biodiversity in different languages to reach and recruit first-generation women of color. More importantly, even though, White members in female-led youth groups might care for inclusive advocacy, racialized people perform laborious caregiving tasks of advocating for implementing practices to create space for people of color and people from the global South, with subsequent attrition of people of color from such groups, indicating the uneven power dynamics operating between those who care for and those who care give. Sexuality also influences how queer individuals adopt caregiving within climate activism. Their experiences with marginalization drive them to validate others' contributions and identities, prioritize mental health and well-being to prevent burnout, and create supportive environments to foster inclusivity and empathy. These findings suggest the reducing influence of hegemonic masculinity within female-led youth groups and highlight the multi-dimensionality and complexity of care through intersecting identities and experiences of young people who are actively developing new ways of fostering resilience and creating inclusive spaces for sustaining commoning for climate justice. At the same time, uneven power dynamics of care between White people and racialized people in female-led youth groups suggest that even the practice of youth-led commoning can reproduce and maintain patterns of marginality.
Information Exchange and Use in Polycentric Youth-led Climate Action
(2024) Mudaliar, Praneeta
Youth-led climate action is emerging as a direct reaction to decades of inaction in the policy arena for transformative policy change to a just and green transition to a low-carbon future. By connecting a variety of organizations such as environmental groups, faith groups, health groups, professionals, and unions, youth movements undertake self-organized collective action cooperating to change some institutions and devise new ones, resulting in a polycentric environmental movement. Today’s youth equipped with knowledge of how centuries of exploitation and systemic inequities have led to the climate crisis are more likely to be inclusive, diverse, and encompass new knowledge systems. Scholarship from environmental governance and social movements highlights the importance of scientific knowledge, local knowledge, Indigenous ways of knowing, and experiential expertise or citizen science as being salient, yet little is known about how youth groups share and use information from different knowledge systems for their activism. Interviews from two youth groups in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada reveal patterns in information sharing, the role of knowledge brokers, and information saliency. Results indicate youth actors frequently access not just scientific information through peer-reviewed journals, local information, and Indigenous ways of knowing, they also seek financial information such as budgets and investments of institutions and experiential expertise from local experts. In addition to credibility, salience, and legitimacy, youth groups also draw upon accuracy, an author’s positionality and informativeness and effectiveness of information to decide which information to include in their activism. Interestingly, even misrepresented science was an important type of information that young people draw upon to further their activism. Since many youth activists are still in college, a practical implication of this study is to expand the environmental studies curriculum to include courses on finance, fiduciary, business approaches, as well as different ways of knowing to help youth activists to legitimize their demands and obtain concrete victories.
Governance approaches to balance trade-off situations between Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Insights from Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US
(2024) Kellner, Elke
While the UN and its member states place high hopes on the achievement of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Emissions Gap Report for 2022 concludes that the international community is significantly off track in achieving the Paris Agreement's goals, and there is currently no viable path to limit global warming to 1.5°C. In addition, the recently published Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 shows that there is a global lack of progress. One of the barriers to achieving the goals are trade-off situations between the goals. This requires governance approaches to balance competing (resource) interests. This study gives insights into the governance approaches to balance a complex trade-off situation in the World Heritage site Chaco Culture National Historical Park, US, as a critical case in this regard. Data were collected through document analysis and 20 semi-structured interviews between 2022 and early 2023 and analysed through qualitative content analysis. The presentation concludes with reflections on how to improve governance processes to balance trade-off situations in WHS.
How actors manage scientific and other information across scales in polycentric governance for collaborative ecosystem recovery
(2024) Koontz, Tomas
Restoration of complex socio-ecological commons involves diverse stakeholders in multiple jurisdictions and organizations. When these decision centers are part of a polycentric governance system, it opens possibilities for sharing information vertically and horizontally. A key type of information shared in large social-ecological commons is scientific knowledge. Scientific information can be used by local level actors to inform local solutions, or to make connections to the larger scale. Prior research suggests much information sharing and learning in polycentric governance is horizontal, with actors sharing information across their level of governance. As well, different types of information may be shared in different directions, with scientific information shared from the large scale down to the local scale, and time and place information shared from the local scale to other local scales or up to the larger scale. This research examines how scientific information is sought and shared by local level actors in the polycentric Puget Sound region (USA). This is a science-rich and institutionally thick polycentric governance system with four types of local collaborative partnerships that are connected vertically to a distinct larger scale jurisdiction. Thus it is an opportune setting to ask and answer questions about sharing and use of scientific information. Analyses of a survey completed by over 200 local partnership members indicates that respondents are comfortable working with science and actively seek it from a variety of horizontal and vertical sources in roughly equal measure. They report sharing scientific information vertically upward less often, but a nontrivial amount. Their key purposes for seeking scientific information include both applying it to address local issues and learning about larger scale connections. Finally, the importance of scientific information compared to other types of information depends on the type of science: natural science is valued more than other types of information, but social science is valued less.
Toward a Knowledge Commons Perspective on the Corporate Form
(2024) Gindis, David
We rely on extensions of the Ostromian institutionalism to knowledge and infrastructure to take the recently proposed corporation-as-commons idea forward. We conceptualize firms as systems of shared heterogenous resources and argue that a firm’s most critical resource is its corporate mask, which enables it to operate as a singular actor. As an institutional resource that combines features of infrastructural and intellectual resources, the corporate mask is a constitutional-level legal and epistemic focal point that is shared by participants in various positions at the collective-choice and operational levels. We show how its provision and production are polycentrically governed by the legal system, the firm’s participants, and all third parties with whom the firm interacts. In the process, we build on recent work combining the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) and Social-Ecological Systems (SES) frameworks to extend the Governing Knowledge Commons (GKC) research program.
The Solid Ecosystem: a Polycentric Approach to Fostering Intention Economies
(2024) Searls, Doc; Zbarcea, Hadrain
The Internet and the World Wide Web were born and grew from polycentric workgroups and remain governed by standards bodies that are polycentric as well. Open-source software development, newer than both the Net and the Web, is now just as widespread and normative. It too is comprised almost entirely of polycentric and self-governed groups. Today two relatively new open-source projects are working, in their own polycentric ways, toward creating a more equitable economic commons that Doc Searls describes in The Intention Economy: one based on full customer agency and better forms of engagement between customers and companies. One is the Solid Project, which was created by Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, and equips people with a new and better way to organize and control access to valuable personal data. The other is IEEE P7012, a new standard that puts people in full control of their privacy online by making them first parties in binding privacy agreements with companies, rather than dependent second parties who have little reason for faith in corporate privacy promises. Both these projects also work on the same polycentric model and may prove as revolutionary and important as the three polycentric graces on which they will operate and depend.
Building BLOCs for Autonomy and Self-Determination in Philadelphia
(2024) O, Kermit
Enclosure, the division of common land into private segments which forms the underlying logic of capitalism, also finds expression in our relationships to time, space, community, the body, knowledge, labor, and life itself. Abolition derives from both the Latin abolere, to destroy, and adolere, to grow. Abolition might therefore even be defined as the dissolution of enclosures, which creates or restores pathways for living. Commoning, the return to stewardship, sharing, and solidarity, is a key strategy in our approach to abolitionist horizons. While we must resist relations of domination at every turn, it is essential to prefigure the world we want. Building BLOCs — block level organizing committees — to dream, design, and democratically develop our immediate social and material realities is one tactic being explored in Philadelphia for modeling and practicing more liberatory relations, toward greater autonomy and self-determination.
The Municipalist Moment in Los Angeles
(2024) Liu, Yvonne
Experiments in municipalism and the reclamation of the common(s) have been slow to develop in North America and yet one is emerging in Los Angeles. The city is inhospitable to the majority: growing numbers of unhoused residents are swept off the sidewalks to be incarcerated, while Black and Latine families are subjected to racial banishment and pushed to the periphery. The fragmentation of the built environment of the city is mirrored in the inability of social movements to come together. Divisions are made to weaken constituent power and to pit groups segregated by race and place to fight for meager resources. A network of social movement organizations, under the name of Los Angeles for All, is attempting to establish collective action plans, governance, and infrastructure to build power from below. The long-term vision is to replace the status quo with a directly democratic polity and solidarity economy. The presentation will explore how the common(s) and public goods can be managed in a transformed city and will reflect on how governance and institutions can transition to this municipalist model.
Transition from a food extraction to a food producing economy – A Study of Institutional Change in Sami Reindeer husbandry
(2024) Larsson, Jesper
The transition from a foraging to a pastoral economy occurred independently and at different times in numerous aboriginal societies around the world. Among arctic and subarctic reindeer herding peoples in northern Eurasia it manifested, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, in a movement that implied a radical shift in economic focus. People went from living foremost on hunting and gathering, with small numbers of domesticated reindeer mainly for transports, to reindeer pastoralism with large reindeer herds. Although it was a massive transition, rather close to our time, remarkably little is known about what consequences it had on institutions for local governance and social relations for the groups involved. Northern Fennoscandia was one of the first to witness the transition to reindeer pastoralism, and the indigenous Sami of northern Sweden are an especially suitable case for addressing these gaps. The historical sources are exceptionally rich. Land used for foraging and by pastoralists are common-pool resources (CPRs): fresh water, hunting grounds, and grazing land. The transition these societies underwent was driven by concomitant self-governed responses to this transition. In the presentation I will outline the transition and present preliminary results on how the transition affected institutions for governance and social relations.
In The Weeds: A Review and Synthesis on Invasive Species Governance
(2024) Dosamantes, Elena; Lien, Aaron; Henry, Adam; Gornish, Elise
As distant places become ever more connected through the movement of goods and people around the globe, non-native plant and animal species are provided with new avenues to spread. Effectivde management of invasive plants requires not only knowledge of methods for control and eradication, but also knowledge of the factors that enable and inhibit coordination and cooperation—collective action—between disparate actors. To date, the literature on invasive species has focused almost exclusively on managing invasions from a technical perspective, with much less focus on governance factors like behavior change, coordination, and collective action. To fill this gap, we undertake a systematic review to learn (1) how much research has been done to understand the social and governance factors related to effective management of invasive plants, (2) what aspects of governance factors has this research focused on, (3) what are the gaps in the literature, and, based on these gaps, (4) what are the most pressing future research needs. We based our search terms on the North American Invasive Species Network’s (NAISN) invasive plant list of 357 species. This search resulted in 186,789 journal articles. We used a filtering process to determine articles were relevant to our research questions. Using this filtering process, we found that less than 0.03% of invasive plant literature explores aspects of governance. We share the results of our analysis of these articles, including common approaches to stakeholder engagement and collaboration, the reported effectiveness of different collaborative approaches, and gaps in knowledge. We find that research has begun to recognize invasive species as a collective action problem and identifies cooperation and stakeholder engagement as important factors. However, researchers lack a shared framework that would guide high-quality, empirical analysis of invasive species governance as a complex socio-ecological problem.
Communal villages, reparatory justice and social trust in post-communist Romania
(2024) Dumitru, Adelin-Costin; Diaconu, David
For centuries, the free Romanian peasants managed forests, pastures or infrastructure as commons. Some of the commons were managed by a self-governing organization, the obste. The imposition of the communist regime in 1948 meant that the obsti had been dismantled. In the late 1990s, during the transition to democracy, members of the old obsti made efforts to re-establish the old organization, efforts concretized in 2000, when a new law allowed the obsti to function again. In this paper, we focus at first on describing the positive process of re-establishing the Obsti and the restitution processes after 1989. Afterwards, adopting a position according to which reparatory justice is necessary in order to restore the moral fabric of societies which had been affected in the past by egregious historical injustices, we analyze those processes' normative implications. Issues such as whether or not it is fair to focus on righting past wrongs and dealing with those who benefited from historical injustice or who are the relevant duty-bearers in present societies have received much attention in the literature on reparatory justice. Nonetheless, the case of re-establishing the Obsti poses new, challenging problems to this ever-growing research direction.
Bridge Contracts in Ghana
(2024) Greenacre, Jonathan
Hundreds of millions of people in Africa and other developing regions lack access to basic services. For example, over 2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. One key reason is weak state-provided collective goods in many African countries which are needed to connect firms and governments located in urban areas with excluded communities, most of whom live in rural communities. These weak goods include poor roads, lack of wifi access, and low levels of public education. This paper argues innovative contracts can foster polycentric governance which can connect firms based in urban areas and rural communities in Africa. These 'bridge contracts' can produce substitute collective goods connecting these urban firms to rural communities, even when state-provided collective goods are weak. The paper uses the 'Vodafone Cash' mobile money payment system as a case study for this argument. The paper describes how contracts embedded within the system enable Vodafone to provide this service to 11 million, including those in rural areas. This argument is supported by two weeks of in-country interviews with members of the Vodafone Cash marketplace conducted in January and a survey of such members in September 2023.
Institutional diversity in agricultural systems
(2024) Perez Ibarra, Irene; Arahuetes-de la Iglesia, Diego; Tenza-Peral, Alicia; Estévez Moreno, Laura X; Lacosta García, Javier; Lare David, Ismael; Pastore Benaim, Ignacio; Martín Suárez, Andrea
Successful governance of natural resources in agricultural systems requires the adaptation of institutions to specific social and environmental contexts. This adaptation, together with the history of the agricultural cases, results in a variety of rules, norms, and strategies used by local actors for resource sharing, i.e., institutional diversity. Here we explore this institutional diversity by quantifying and comparing the three dimensions of institutional diversity: 1) diversity of rule taxonomy, 2) diversity of grammatical components, and 3) diversity of the functionality of institutions. We coded institutions from transcripts of interviews with farmers from a selection of small-scale agricultural systems in Spain. Our results show not only the great institutional diversity that exists to adapt to even small contextual social and environmental differences, but also that traditional institutions are, in some cases, changing very rapidly, calling attention to the urgent need to document traditional institutions as an important part of our intangible cultural heritage.
Exploring the potentials of polycentric governance analysis: The comparative diagnosis of hybrid organic farming governance in Tunisia and Morocco
(2024) Thiel, Andreas
Polycentric governance addresses the emergence, structure and performance and self-organizing dynamics of co-production. The paper considers organic farming sectors as emblematic cases of polycentric co-production and engages into comparative institutional analysis in its regard, addressing organic agricultural sectors in Tunisia and Morocco. That way, it illustrates the analysis of polycentric governance and the adjacent action situations within it as well as what endogenous and exogenous factors shape system performance. As commonalities it finds that characteristics of transactions in terms of asset specificity play important roles. Further, it finds that the political economy of who and what has an interest and resources to coordinate in polycentric governance greatly orient sector and system performance. Transaction costs of access to the sector and its coordination establish exclusionary mechanisms to polycentric governance and regulate expansion of inherent public goods provisioning at stake in polycentric organic farming. The comparative analysis shows that public (open access) provisioniong of the coordination function in polycentric governance (i.e. standardization, accreditation, certification) are crucial to public goods expansion in polycentric governance.
Social inequalities and institutional dynamics in natural resource governance
(2024) Vallury, Sechindra; Baggio, Jacopo; Cook, Nathan
The role of inequality has long been central to understanding collective action capacities and institutional design. Traditionally, institutional analysis and governance scholarships have examined inequalities through differences in individuals' endowments and assets. However, there remains a significant gap in understanding how ingrained social inequalities and de facto political power shape the emergence and evolution of governance. This study investigates the influence of these deep-rooted power dynamics on persistence of institutions and resource governance in common-pool resource settings. It examines how individuals' identities, linked to social categories such as caste and gender, along with their livelihood decisions and preferences for institutions, impact institutional change and resource governance. Through a computational model of small-scale irrigation systems, we analyze how individuals from diverse social groups collaborate, share knowledge, and make decisions regarding water allocation rules amid climate-induced water variability. Using empirical data from the Indian Human Development Survey to parameterize our model, we simulate collective choice scenarios, such as infrastructure repair, rulemaking, and water withdrawals, under various precipitation projections. Our results demonstrate how the preferences of farmers from advantaged social groups shape changes in water allocation rules and how shocks to water availability can exacerbate inequities by perpetuating rules that benefit elites. These results underscore the importance of de facto power in the institutional design and natural resource governance.
Collective action and polycentricity in agroecological sustainability transformations – Exploring theoretical and conceptional issues of state-society relations
(2024) Götz, Ariane; Thiel, Andreas
Agroecology has gained prominence to advance agricultural sustainability transformations. Central to it are: producing along ecological principles, working with the social-ecological context of a farm and community, and empowering local communities (small farmers). Collective action theory is claimed to be well-suited to approach the topic. De Molina et al. (2019) argue that the normative theory of polycentric governance, provides analytical categories to assess whether the institutional configuration of a particular context is conducive to agroecology. This paper examines these conceptual and theoretical-ontological claims. We aim to understand how research informed by normative polycentric governance captures state-society interrelations of agroecological transformations, and whether foundations need adjusting. The inquiry is structured by several questions: What are premises of polycentric governance regarding state-society interrelations of agroecological sustainability transformations? How does polycentric governance theory hold up in view of the contextual characteristics of the state-society relations of the globalized agrifood system? Which conceptual and theoretic-ontological issues need addressing in that regard? What follows for the future research agenda on agricultural sustainability transformations? The paper draws on an desk review of the international political economy of food and agriculture, agroecological sustainability transformations and polycentric governance, as well as field research in the MENA region.
Nature and Commons as rationalities for the production of urban space
(2024) Maziviero, Maria Carolina
The disastrous effects of human intervention and the depletion of natural resources due to their uncontrolled consumption and exploitation have guided the discussion on the urban and economic “development” model. The contradictions of capital, arising from its operating logic, have demonstrated an inability to ensure decent living conditions for the majority of the world's population. The coronavirus pandemic worsened this scenario and exposed the limits of the overexploitation of nature, workers, putting the civilizing project into question, on the verge of collapse. At the local scale, socio-spatial asymmetries and inequalities trigger environmental racism and the fragility of development models based on environmental exploitation, waste generation, extractive forms of territorial occupation, dispossession and deterritorialization of groups and populations. It is essential to debate the environmental, economic and social dimensions as synergistic, systemic and territorialized relationships. We propose to debate the commons as an alternative to capitalism, as it points to other shared/solidaristic ways of life. Territories of poverty already produce shared ways of life as forms of survival, and their spatialities differ from those provided by law. This set of relationships and practices regarding the inhabited, produced and lived space constitutes ways of reclaiming the world against enclosures that prioritize individuality.
Building Civic Artisanship through Golden Rule Mindfulness
(2024) Malik, Anas
Drawing on Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy, Vincent Ostrom argued that polycentric orders require civic artisanship for their adaptability and long-term wellbeing. Civic artisanship occurs when individuals take into account others’ interests and perspectives in devising and revising rules for managing social problems. Underlying civic artisanship is the Golden Rule: to do for others what you would have others do for you. Various religious and cultural liturgies urge Golden Rule mindfulness, ie., growing one’s empathy and imagination of the “other”. A major challenge to sustaining a democratic order is the intergenerational transmission of the habits of heart and mind that underlie self-governance. This paper proposes a technique for invigorating civic artisanship for responding to environmental challenges in intercommunity contexts: start meetings with golden rule mindfulness boosts, ideally with awe-inducing artifacts. The ultimate goal is a change in individuals’ civic attitudes, habits, and engagements. The paper concludes with some tentative notes on a pilot study.
The promises and limits of a strong multi-scalar state in a proto-polycentric system: Qualitative Comparative Analysis on the decarbonization of the electricity infrastructure in Taiwan
(2024) LI, Anthony Ho Fai
The need to coordinate a large group of autonomous but interdependent actors renders the multi-scalar state with public authority vital in any polycentric system. To solve large-scale environmental problems with the fundamental transformation of existing infrastructures, cooperation between the national and the local states is essential. In the pursuit of energy transition toward decarbonization, however, local states do not always prioritize the national concern, especially when they are also accountable to the electorates and constrained by limited finances even in a unitary administrative system. Meanwhile, when local policymakers are incentivized, huge uncertainties about how to achieve the policy outcome make it imperative for them to co-produce the policy output with non-state actors. With Qualitative Comparative Analysis on the local states in Taiwan which are democratically elected under a unitary administrative system in 2016-2020, this paper explores the variety of cross-scale institutional arrangements which are facilitative to a higher level of solar energy deployment as the desired policy output. Supplemented by archival research and interviews, this paper discusses what a strong multi-scalar state characteristic of East Asian polities can deliver with the top-down energy policy change, but also evaluates its limits as to whom it excludes in a proto-polycentric system.
Polycentric Governance of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazilian Favelas
(2024) Basile, Patricia
This article examines the polycentric nature of the governance of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazilian informal settlements, known as favelas, in the face of science denialism and government neglect. During the COVID-19 pandemic, then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro refused to acknowledge the gravity of the public health crisis. Bolsonaro ignored lockdown mandates and physical distancing recommendations and suppressed data on the virus's spread and lethality. At the state and municipal levels, government responses overlooked the realities of favelas and their residents who, in most cases, could not practice social distancing or stay home. In response, community-based organizations mobilized private and public actors and resources to protect their communities from virus transmission, hunger, and misinformation disseminated by the president at the time. I analyze the polycentric arrangements mobilized by favela organizations in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to counter such realities. These governance systems relied on past and new local, informal, and formal institutional mechanisms, resources, and actors to deal with increasing oppression, threats, and rights violations. Finally, I reflect on the roles of such polycentric arrangements for urban governance and democratic processes in Brazil and elsewhere.
Sacred Rhino: Relational Models, Moral Mechanisms, and a Social Theory of Conservation and Poaching Control
(2024) Tanghe, Paul
This paper presents a social theory of conservation and the control of poaching. After a literature review tracing major themes in conservation literature emphasizing state capacity, individual preference, and mediating communities, I summarize contemporary research into wildlife value orientations and individual decisions whether to poach or not poach. Relational model theory can explain this decision through the sacred value protection model and moral responses to taboo trade-off reasoning. I synthesize this literature into a social theory for the control of poaching as an alternative to conventional explanations regarding state capacity and economic incentives. I conclude with a research design to investigate observable implications in conservation outcomes involving rhinoceros poaching.
The Grammar of rules-in-use
(2024) Perez Ibarra, Irene; Brady, Ute; Tenza Peral, Alicia; Detzi, Daniel W; Arahuetes de la Iglesia, D
Rules-in-use, including formal and informal rules, are key to human interactions. Using the Institutional Grammar to analyze rules-in-use can provide some insights to understand the diversity of rules, compliance with existing rules, or to study other aspects such as emotional consequences, customs, or social norms that cannot be studied when analyzing formal rules from written regulations or bylaws. However, applying the institutional grammar to qualitative data from interviews or focus groups is far from straightforward. Here we present a protocol designed to facilitate the process of studying rules-in-use with the Institutional Grammar. This protocol includes a detailed description of how to: 1) properly design an interview guide in order to obtain a large number of institutional statements and all the grammatical components of each statement, 2) correctly identify and transform raw statements into institutional statements to increase replicability, 3) apply the Institutional Grammar, and 4) calculate intercoder reliability from interviews. With this protocol, we hope to advance the study of rules-in-use as an essential analysis for understanding collective action and the outcomes of human interactions.
Contribution Systems
(2024) Rennie, Ellie; Potts, Jason
We propose the idea that ‘contribution systems’ are a new class of economic mechanism. Like firms, they organise production with purpose, but they do not use contracts. Like markets, they are permissionless to enter, but they do not do exchange. Like commons, they pool resources and are egalitarian, but they enable reward. They don't use prices, but they compute value. They don't have leaders or owners, but they are goal-oriented. They are a type of economic institution that is a production mechanism and an allocation mechanism, and which creates and distributes value, and so is a type of economy. Yet while this economy shares many similarities with existing economic mechanisms, it is not quite any one of them, but a new hybrid object. A contribution system is an economic platypus. And our purpose here is to report some early and new sightings.
The Value of Having Values: Artifacts of Normative Knowledge as Instruments of Collective Self-Governance for Data Flows
(2024) Bloom, Greg
Given data’s characteristics as a non-rivalrous, inexhaustible resource, some interpretation is necessary to apply Ostrom’s design principles to the challenge of data governance – starting with the question of boundaries. Building upon the Governing Knowledge Commons framework, along with related work by Helen Nissenbaum on contextual integrity, this paper argues that boundaries around data resources can be drawn through the intentional development and application of values statements. Since the potential value of data often increases in relation to the number of its users and potential uses, values statements set normative expectations around the kinds of processes and outcomes that are considered desirable – what do we think is good?, and how do we agree to do this work? These statements function as a kind of boundary object that can give shape to a community’s identity and, in turn, aid in the development of new institutional strategies to protect that identity. After considering this function in the context of examples – ranging from abstract signifiers such as “open data” and “smart cities,” to bundled declarations such as the CARE principles, to specific examples of environmental data commons – this paper concludes by offering practical guidance for the development of values statements through democratic writing processes and collective choice-making.
Learning from regulatory failure: How Ostrom’s restorative justice design principle helps naïve groups create wiser enforcement systems to overcome the tragedy of the commons
(2024) DeCaro, Daniel; DeCaro, Marci; Janssen, Marco; Lee, Allen; Graci, Alanea; Flener, Devin
Rule enforcement is critical in democratic, self-governing societies. Many political disputes occur when citizens do not understand the fundamental rationales for enforcement (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). We examined how naïve groups learn and develop wise enforcement systems. Based on theories from behavioral economics, political science, psychology, and education, we predicted that groups need to experience failure of an enforcement system, but be guided on restorative justice principles to collectively learn from this failure. Undergraduate students (N=288) from a Midwestern U.S. metropolitan university self-governed a simulated common-pool resource with real financial payoffs. Groups began with one of three conditions designed to create different experiences with enforcement and regulatory failure: (a) no enforcement (no communication or peer sanctioning), (b) lax enforcement (communication with peer-sanctioning), or (c) regulatory abuse (peer sanctioning without communication). Half then received facilitated guidance on restorative justice principles (e.g., discuss whether/why to use sanctions). To examine cooperation, we measured how well participants maintained the resource. To examine group learning, we created a novel coding system, which tracked groups’ constitutional decisions about conservation agreements and enforcement, conceptual understanding, and the enforcement systems they created. No enforcement and lax enforcement conditions quickly yielded moderate cooperation via voluntary agreements. However, such agreements prevented groups from discovering how and why to use enforcement (peer sanctioning) to improve performance. Initial exposure to regulatory failure had different effects depending on facilitation. Unfacilitated groups fixated on initial misconceptions, causing them to abandon or create less sophisticated enforcement systems, hindering cooperation. Facilitated groups learned from prior failure—discovering principles of wise enforcement (e.g., collective efficiency, self-restraint)—and created more sophisticated enforcement systems (e.g., coordinated sanctions) that improved cooperation. Guidance on restorative justice principles and experience with regulatory abuse may be necessary preconditions for naïve individuals to understand and develop wiser collective enforcement systems.
Path Dependence: An Uncomfortable Institutional Design Axiom
(2024) Alston, Eric; Case, Amber; Zargham, Michael
In governance systems, path dependence means the trajectory to an ideal configuration defines the attainability of that ideal. For example, while decentralization is a common ideal, most real-world systems must start from a centralized point and decentralize progressively. Yet path dependence means there is not a clear path to every idealized institutional choice set. Thus, while idealists focus on describing perfect futures, builders must pragmatically chart trajectories given initial conditions. Path dependency forces us to acknowledge the necessity for pragmatic concessions in order to deliver outcomes. Our design and chartering of an innovative data trust, Superset, has brought this uncomfortable axiom into stark relief. Currently governed by a board of Trustees, Superset coordinates data governance spanning digital, legal and financial contexts. Yet this same centralized trustee authority creates more representative data governance relative to the status quo. This highlights how path dependence’s inescapability in complex polycentric systems means institutional design in practice must be Ostromian: tailored to its specific context including the constraints inherent thereto. This paper explores Superset's initial path of bootstrapping a new data governance model towards a more equitable and representative future from a starting point anchored in the possible given current legal, technical, and financial constraints.
Litigating the Ledger: Civil Liability for DAO Controllers
(2024) Alston, Eric
Organizations coordinating using blockchain tools nonetheless have a variety of fiduciary duties to their members. Thus, DAO controllers probably have a set of relationships that are not well clarified in practice when it comes to what is the nature of the duty owed token holders by those who exercise. When certain members of DAOs make decisions that materially affect the interests of wider range of DAO members (as evinced by token holdings), these members are exercising the equivalent of managerial control. Whether or not that control is managerial is part of the deep questions that are the subject of ongoing consideration by regulatory authorities around the world. The fiduciary duty of care requires that controllers make decisions that pursue the corporation's interest with reasonable diligence and prudence. A duty of loyalty is where decision makers within the company should act in the interest of the company, and not in their own interest. These, though, are significantly cabined by the business judgment rule, which courts are loath after the fact to disturb every business judgment made precisely because businesses operate in a risky environment. However, there are well-understood exceptions to the business judgment rule involving self-dealing, excessive compensation, inactivity with invested capital, and investments made outside the ordinary course of business. Given the uncertainty surrounding the organizational status of DAOs in many jurisdictions, though, it is likely that civil plaintiffs attorneys are deterred from filing otherwise viable cases. Thus, if the organizational status of DAOs is clarified, it is likely that cases will be brought under the areas of liability I discuss herein.
Entangling Organizational Success and Survival in Complex Polycentric Systems
(2024) Alston, Eric
The broadest way to characterize organizational resilience verges on the tautological: an organization is resilient if it survives. Survival means existing resources are sufficient for the organization to continue to exist. But as formally constituted fonts of collective action, organizations exist to realize shared human intent within an uncertain world. This makes an organization’s purpose inextricable from resilience in practice, because purpose greatly defines an organization’s size, internal processes, and the extent of competition it faces for members and consumers. Within the complex polycentric adaptive systems that are human societies, an organization’s resilience is entangled with its success in achieving its purpose, for sufficient failure to realize a purpose, or abandonment of purpose altogether will lead to an organization losing the people and resources that are integral to its survival. This analysis explores common definitions of organizational resilience and success and interrogates these definitions as a function of purpose, shedding new light on what it means to survive collectively in an uncertain competitive landscape.
Co-producing Knowledge through Collective Engagement: Exploring the compatibility of carbon programs with the values of Tribal communities in the U.S.
(2024) Ruseva, Tatyana
To increase the pace of carbon removal, carbon programs have been enacted to encourage carbon sequestration and storage on forestlands. To date most work related to participation in carbon programs has focused on private forestlands, with little attention given to forests owned by Tribes and tribal members. As such, there is limited understanding of the needs and barriers for Tribal communities to participate in carbon programs, in addition to access and equity considerations associated with program participation. The goals of this study therefore are: (1) to identify opportunities and barriers for Tribes to participate in carbon programs by analyzing linkages among related decisions, and (2) to examine the compatibility of existing carbon programs with the values and needs of Tribal communities. To address these objectives, we adopt participatory and institutional approaches, which have increasingly been used to address socio-ecological problems. Specifically, the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach provides a framework for participants and investigators to co-produce knowledge through collective engagement (via interviews and discussion-based focus groups) and helps facilitate the integration of traditional ecological knowledge. The Networks of Action Situations (NAS) approach enables multi-level institutional analyses to uncover interactions within and between related decisions for carbon program participation.
Attention Economies and Online Governance Surfaces
(2024) Nabben, Kelsie; Schneider, Nathan; Tomari, Ronen; Zargham, Michael
This paper considers the intersection of governance and attention in online contexts. In particular, it assesses the relevance of "attention economies,'' or the analysis of human attention as a process and a finite resource, to digital "governance surfaces,'' or the means available for organizational adaptation and action. Existing theoretical frameworks for the governance of community-managed resources lack adequate consideration for how people’s attention is engaged and directed. To address this critical gap, this paper presents heuristics for analyzing how attention relates to governance in the analysis and design of complex systems. These heuristics draw insights from a review of literature surrounding attention economies and governance, as well as from three different case studies of attempts to address attention in the design of online governance surfaces. The heuristics are analytical and normative tools intended to enable researchers and system designers to better describe the flows and limits of attention in a governance system. They invite consideration of whether the system’s orchestration of attention is appropriate, efficient, and just.
What Works for Fair Trade? Coffee, Cooperatives, and Governance
(2024) Tucker, Catherine M.
Coffee is among the world’s most valuable agricultural commodities, yet a majority of the world’s estimated 25 million coffee-producing households live in impoverished conditions. Over the past 40 years, fair trade and other certifications (e.g., organic, Smithsonian Bird Friendly, Rainforest Alliance, …) have emerged with goals of improving producer incomes, encouraging environmentally friendly practices, and supporting social justice and sustainability. Cooperatives that acquire certifications to benefit their members face numerous governance challenges. They must develop local governance arrangements that fit the demands of coffee value chains and certification requirements, while simultaneously confronting market volatility, severe weather events, political and economic shocks (including the COVID-19 pandemic), and the spread of coffee pests and diseases likely associated with climate change. At the same time, international certification organizations have their own governance structures and processes that can inadvertently create difficulties for small scale producers and their cooperatives. This study draws on five years of research with Honduran small scale coffee producers and cooperatives. It explores how local-to-international governance arrangements matter for the successes and shortcomings of cooperatives that endeavor to benefit from certifications and adapt resiliently to ongoing socioeconomic, political and climatic crises.
Design Principles and Social Isolation among Older African Immigrants
(2024) Adeniji, Dolapo
This study explores how older African immigrants in the United States experience social isolation, which manifests as a lack of interactions with people from other races. Using qualitative data and Elinor Ostrom’s design principles (DP), the study describes how older African immigrants do not interact with their counterparts from other races in the United States and take advantage of aging programs designed to reduce social isolation. The study finds that the blamable factors are cultural differences (DP2) that make older African immigrants feel like non-citizens (DP1); the shame of feeling like strangers (DP5); communication challenges stemming from language and cultural differences (DP2) that sometimes spark conflicts(DP6); the belief that they have limited rights to associate with other races (DP7); and the lack of interactions between sociocultural organizations of older African immigrants and those of different races (DP8). Understanding these challenges can help foster a more inclusive and race-friendly community for older African immigrants.
The Polycentric Production of Global Public Goods
(2024) Goodman, Nathan
Some goods plausibly generate non-excludable and non-rivalrous benefits at a global scale. These global public goods may include environmental goods such as protection of the ozone layer or mitigation of global climate change. Other plausible global public goods include the reduction of global existential risks, the protection of international peace, the protection of international trade routes, and the prevention of nuclear war. Many economists fear that public goods will be insufficiently provided absent central enforcement. This can be used as an argument for monocentric, one-size-fits-all solutions such as a global government, a powerful state acting as an imperial hegemon, or the establishment of binding global treaties. However, these monocentric approaches face serious problems of knowledge, incentives, abuse of power, and high transaction costs. In practice, polycentric arrangements may be a better approach to providing global public goods. Insights from the Bloomington school of institutional analysis can help illuminate how these types of polycentric approaches can work.
Unveiling the “efficiency paradox” in the irrigation sector: a multi-methods exploration of behavioral aspects
(2024) Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio; Hoffman, Patrick
Governments and local irrigation associations across the globe have invested billions of euros in technology reform programs to increase irrigation efficiency. Empirical evidence suggests that increases in water efficiency do not always lead to water conservation due to so-called rebound effects. This study addresses the question of the extent to which social construction of technology and collective action dynamics within irrigation associations mediate those effects. Methodologically, the study combines survey analysis with an experiment, and tests the hypothesis that different collective constructions around technology and its use, as well as mental accounts of water savings can affect the way water stemming from efficiency increases is ultimately used. As shown, some of the results confirm the hypothesis but with nuances.
Towards a science of socio-ecological diagnosis
(2024) Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio
For the last decade or so, an increasing number of scholars have touched on the idea of developing a science of diagnosis. Elinor Ostrom, in her influential article on “A diagnostic approach for going beyond Panaceas”, presented a framework (i.e., the SES Framework) as a first step to move towards better diagnoses of problems and solutions. Since then, applications of the framework, alternative frameworks, and a variety of new and not so new techniques have been applied to different contexts under the promise of offering providing better diagnostics. But, what science of diagnosis and how it is different from the scientific method as we know it? This paper addresses the question by highlighting distinctive features of the science of socio-ecological diagnosis as they relate to the construction of frameworks for socio-ecological analysis, the role of theory building and testing, the reliance on mixed-methods (and single and comparative case studies in particular), and the policy-science interface, among other aspects. As we pose, advancements in the science of diagnosis can benefit from the construction of “usable” frameworks (i.e., that include methodological guidance about their usage and are transparent in linkages with other frameworks), middle ground theories that clearly distinguish scope from explanatory conditions, standardization of quality criteria for case study methods, and explicit efforts to translate theory into policy treatments, among other aspects.
Unlocking conflicts and traps: Institutional diagnosis for transformative social-ecological governance in a non-ergodic world
(2024) Méndez, Pablo F.
Institutions and their dynamics are critical for governance towards sustainability in social-ecological systems (SES). The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework is among the most used for understanding the role of institutions. Here, I propose a metatheoretic device to contribute to enhance the IAD’s capacity for SES diagnostics and transformative governance, addressing several gaps identified in the literature. These gaps are related to the lack of systematization in IAD-based analysis of historical and power dynamics, and outcome emergence in SES. Device development is based on the synthesis of insights from a two decades-long case study in the Doñana region aimed at understanding historical development of current governance, and its relationship with water conflicts and traps. The main aim of the metatheoretic device is to offer a tool able to prompt reflection on the part of analysts, on critical interrelated assumptions and logics related to ergodicity and contingency. These notions, I argue, may fundamentally affect the model of the rational actor and the approach to power in institutional analysis, as well as the interpretation of historical empirical results, synthesis and theory building. Metatheoretic building was based on primal concepts defining the IAD framework, its politicized version, and its core advancement into the Networks of Adjacent Action Situations approach, used in Doñana to explore connections between the case’s micro-meso levels and the macro level integrating path dependence. My hope is that the device is able to trigger deeper learning about the dynamics underlying institutional and behavioral variation, and how these affect emergent processes.
Institutional Analysis of Stakeholder, Rightsholder, and Public Participation under NEPA: Procedural Justice in the Case of a Proposed Arizona Copper Mine
(2024) Lewis, Sydey
Copper demand is surging in the U.S. and around the world as countries embrace new forms of energy to combat climate change. But copper mining – while a key strategy to address supply shortages – can serve as a vehicle for injustice by imposing socio-ecological burdens for nearby communities. Due to the growing demand for copper with resulting justice issues, more research is needed to evaluate governance for the mining sector using an environmental justice lens. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a key environmental regulation that governs mining in the U.S. Therefore, I used a qualitative case study approach to examine how NEPA requirements shape engagement in public comment opportunities. I selected the Resolution Copper Mine as a case study because of its potential to support the energy transition but pose a significant dilemma for justice: the mine is anticipated to generate 25 percent of the U.S. copper demand each year but disturb lands that hold spiritual significance for Native American Tribes. I used the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to analyze institutional dynamics and evaluate the NEPA process for public participation using a procedural justice lens. Drawing on interview data and document analysis, the results show that process rules such as a land exchange bill and the lengths of comment opportunities were among the key barriers for participation. Socioeconomic conditions of communities including access to social resources (i.e. access to internet and technical assistance) and institutional trust posed further barriers for participation. Hence, this study suggests that federal decision-makers should aim to better integrate procedural justice into the NEPA process.
Cyberspace as a Commons: International Governance of Intelligence Activities
(2024) Gaberman, Anna
The substantive international law, or lack thereof, governing state intelligence activities is fraught with debate. Blurry sovereign territorial lines and difficulties in attribution allow the rise of technological capabilities and increasing prevalence of cyberespionage activities to further complicate the issue. Cyberspace is not the first frontier in espionage that international law has had to grapple with, and it likely won’t be the last. Beyond territorial borders, states have established a governance structure for peacetime espionage in the global commons which intentionally avoids strict construction of specific issues while building in principles to facilitate legal intelligence collection. This paper argues that intelligence in cyberspace should be subject to governance as a commons space, like that of the high seas, because of its borderless nature, remote access abilities, and benefit of the “due regard” principle to productive use. While international law in this area is far from a comprehensive regime, a formal forward-looking agreement on cyberspace could provide a framework for state and private actors alike while leaving room for custom and secret practice to fill the gaps. Governing cyberspace as a commons means delineating between territorial and borderless cyberspace, defining “peaceful” use to incorporate intelligence collection, and considering the proportionality of actions.
Digital Enclosures and Commons Solutions: A Political-Ecological Approach to Data Governance
(2024) Coco, Brooke Ann
Over the past two decades, critical scholars have observed a gradual enclosure of the digital sphere by state and market forces, employing terms such as digital capitalism (Schiller, 1999), information capitalism (Schiller, 2007), platform capitalism (Srnicek & De Sutter, 2017), platformisation (Poell et al., 2019), and surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2019). Given that these phenomena exhibit dynamics similar to those in the tangible commons - such as free riding, congestion, and pollution - some have turned to commons theory as a strategic countermeasure. However, the non-rivalrous and exclusionary nature of digital data classifies it as a club good, challenging the applicability of a commons analytic framework for data governance. This presentation explores recent scholarship that extends Elinor Ostrom's work to propose a political-ecological approach for conceptualizing and governing digital data as a commons. It further examines the practical applications of this approach by introducing Superset, an initiative that creatively combines web3 technologies with existing regulatory and governance frameworks to manage a digital commons. This contribution highlights the adaptability of Ostrom's framework in addressing the unique challenges of digital data while also acknowledging the obstacles encountered along the way.
Analysing a WEFE Nexus System in Portugal: Complementing systems thinking with institutional analysis
(2024) Schütze, Nora
The integrated governance of natural resources has gained increasing attention in the last decades among scientists and policy-makers, most notably under the approach of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus. It reflects the biophysical interdependencies between people and their use of water, and energy, the production of food, and the protection of ecosystems. Challenges of the WEFE nexus relate to often irreconcilable trade-offs between the use and protection of these natural resources. Furthermore, they are characterized by complex cause-effect relationships that are separated in space and time. To understand the root causes of these challenges and also develop strategies and policy instruments to address them, a systemic understanding is indispensable, but arguably often lacking in current debates on the WEFE nexus. To develop such a systemic understanding, systems thinking is considered crucial. Systems thinking is a holistic approach to understanding and addressing complex problems by considering the interactions and interdependencies among various elements within a system, identifying the drivers of system behaviour, and uncovering mental models. Rather than viewing phenomena in isolation, systems thinking emphasizes the interconnectedness of components and their dynamic relationships over time, and the idea that structure drives behavior (Meadows 2009). However, we argue that the role of governance and institutions in shaping systems behaviour and performance at multiple levels has not sufficiently been considered in related studies. To address this gap, we complement systems thinking with institutional analysis in this paper. More specifically, we use Participatory Systems Dynamics Modelling (Sedlacko et al. 2014) to develop a systems map of the WEFE nexus in a case study on the Alentejo region, Portugal. Based on this systems map and through a polycentric governance perspective, we apply the Network of Adjacent Action Situations (McGinnis 2011) (NAAS) to zoom into decision-making processes within the WEFE nexus system, and understand how institutions at multiple levels drive actors’ behaviour in this system. The NAAS allows us to understand how outcomes of one Action Situations impact actors’ decision-making processes in other Action Situations. The concept is particularly useful for understanding the interconnected nature of WEFE nexus issues where actors intendedly and unintendedly influence each other in their usages of water, land, and energy resources, the production of food, and their impact on nature. Empirically, we aim to identify the institutional and governance-related drivers of the system under analysis, and the determinants of the system’s performance from an institutional, and polycentric governance perspective. Furthermore, we are interested in leverage points and how to intervene in the system to solve the WEFE nexus problems. The case study of the Alentejo region is located in southern Portugal, having a Mediterranean climate. Traditionally, the region has been characterized by extensive, multi-functional agricultural systems, such as the Montado. However, since two decades, the region is undergoing processes of agricultural intensification, and expansion of irrigated agriculture. The region is thus now shaped by intensive irrigated agriculture, which is mostly olive and almond cultivation, which has contributed to interrelated challenges such as biodiversity and ecosystem loss, soil erosion, and water salinization. Main drivers of this process include the construction of the Alqueva dam and the respective provision of water at an affordable price with relatively low water fees (Morgado et al. 2022; Silveira et al. 2018), and the payments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (Pinto-Correia and Azeda 2017). However, we observe empirical research gaps on the underlying governance processes at different levels, the role of actors and their interests, and how different drivers, including institutions, interdependent and mutually influence each other. Furthermore, studies that adopt a WEFE nexus perspective seem to be missing in the Alentejo region. We aim to contribute to closing these empirical research gaps. From a conceptual and methodological point of view, we aim to advance the understanding of systems in polycentric governance literature, by addressing questions on the definition of system boundaries and understanding systems behavior; as well as the understanding of institutions in literature on systems thinking.
Leading the Digital Way: How street-level bureaucrats activate citizens’ e-governance participation
(2024) Liu, Lu
Many governments are eager to promote e-participation initiatives, yet citizens’ interests in engaging in electronic participation vary. Previous studies have associated citizens’ e-participation behaviors with individual attributes, technology features, and organizational factors; however, they have overlooked how the implementation of these initiatives affects citizens’ behaviors. At the same time, the research on street-level bureaucracy has emphasized the impacts of bureaucratic encounters on policy outcomes, but how such encounters shape citizen engagement in digital governance remains under-explored. This study addresses these gaps by investigating how street-level bureaucrats’ beliefs and motives about technology affect their interaction with citizens in e-participation. Based on an original dataset collected in rural China, the study finds that street-level bureaucrats’ actions impact citizens engagement in e-governance. Based on an original database of 1521 rural residents across China, our findings show that village officials’ proactive use of social media can contribute to a high level of citizen e-government participation. They motivate citizen participation by improving citizens' perceived responsiveness. However, we find no evidence street-level bureaucrats tend to mobilize the marginal to bridge the digital divide. This study provides a novel explanation for citizens’ e-participation behaviors derived from bureaucratic encounters. It highlights that the entrepreneurial behaviors of street-level bureaucrats are crucial for the successful implementation of e-participation. Therefore, practitioners should cultivate digital-savvy frontline workers to lead the way in digital participation.
On Corporate Cartels as Common Pool Resources
(2023) Schmal, W. Benedikt
Governing the complex institution of a corporate cartel is a highly involved topic. Operating outside the legal sphere, the cartel firms simultaneously need to harmonize prices and quantities, avoid discovery by the authorities, but also ensure that no member cheats on the others. This exploratory paper applies the Ostromian `governance of the commons' perspective as a novel prism on the conduct of cartels. It proposes a novel interpretation of a cartel's excess profit as a common pool resource in contrast to the common prisoners dilemma perspective. By that, the paper sheds new light on the economic analysis of collusion and provides many starting points for research at the intersection of managerial governance and industrial organization.
Reshaping collective reciprocal space and rules: The impact of digital network technology application on farmers' participation in collective action to respond to natural disasters - evidence from rural coastal border areas of China
(2024) Su, Yiqing; Xuan, Yuan; Zeng, Qunqi; Chen, Xiaohan
In the context of global climate change and the increase in extreme weather, the risk of frequent natural disasters has had a great impact on the production and life of farming households, putting their livelihoods under serious threat and destroying their living environment. How to improve the resilience and adaptability of farmers to climate change and enhance their sustainable livelihoods and survival is a major challenge in rural areas around the world. Climate change resistance and adaptation is a public social issue, and the ability of farmers to participate in collective action on disasters is directly related to their individual capacity to adapt to climate change. In the context of the general decline in the capacity for collective action in rural areas as a result of the impact of marketisation and commoditisation, the use of digital network technologies can enhance the capacity of rural households for collective action to resist the impacts of climate change and disasters through the rapid dissemination of information and knowledge, expanding the space for expansion of the social capital of rural households, and reducing the costs of collective action. Former scholars have conducted in-depth studies in the fields of disaster governance and the impact of digital network technology, but few studies have introduced the development of digital network technology, an important scientific and technological variable, into research related to disaster governance. Specifically, firstly, with regard to disaster governance, most of the existing studies have focused on technological instrumental responses, while disaster governance pathways focusing on collective action have been less frequently discussed. Second, most studies focus on enhancing rural disaster governance capacity through exogenous dynamics, but few studies focus on the resilience of rural communities themselves. Third, little attention has been paid to the relationship between digital network technology and collective action in disasters and their interaction mechanisms. Thus, based on collective action theory, this paper combines existing research results on disaster collective action and digital network technology, theoretically builds a link between the use of digital network technology and the participation of farmers in collective action to cope with disasters, proposes a mechanism path through which the use of digital network technology can enhance collective action in disasters by improving social learning, and empirically tests the proposed relationship between the use of digital network technology and disaster collective action based on research data from 987 farmers in Guangxi, a border region of China, based on diversified econometric tools. The proposed relationship between the use of digital network technology and collective action in disasters is empirically examined based on a variety of econometric tools supported by 987 farm household survey data from Guangxi, a border region in China. The results show that, on the one hand, digital network technology has a significant positive impact on disaster collective action. In this, at the initial stage, increased use of digital network technology by farmers can bring about a rapid increase in the level of disaster collective action, but once the use of digital network technology by farmers reaches a certain level, the incremental increase in disaster collective action brought about by the use of digital network technology by farmers decreases. On the other hand, digital network technologies can increase the willingness of farmers to participate in collective action in disasters by increasing their livelihood capital, social capital, and natural capital, specifically through the promotion of social learning. The use of digital network technologies enhances the path of collective action of farmers through social learning, demonstrating that digital cyberspace, as a new type of public good, has characteristics that are different from those of traditional public goods. While traditional public goods are depleted by the increasing number of users, new public goods show positive externalities of "the more you use them, the more you get", which are triggered by the continuous dissemination of knowledge through social learning in cyberspace. Therefore, the institutional design for the governance of new public goods is quite different from that of traditional public goods. Specifically, new public things require boundary rules to encourage openness, while traditional public things require boundary rules to restrict access. In this case, the use of boundary rules to encourage openness in new types of public things will bring strong positive externalities to the users and at the same time expose the users to a higher risk of being affected by negative externalities. Therefore, in the institutional design of new public things, it is necessary to reshape the reciprocal relationships and rules formed in the governance of traditional public things in the governance of new public things, so that the institutional rules for the governance of new public things can adapt to the unique boundary rules of new public things. In addition, the positive impact of the use of digital network technologies on the collective action of farmers in response to disasters, as verified in this paper, actually reveals the idea that people can enhance the resilience and adaptability of rural areas through the use of new public goods. The possible contributions of this paper are as follows: firstly, it empirically examines the positive externalities of new public goods, providing new evidence for further understanding of the characteristic of "the more you use it, the more you get" of new public goods. Secondly, it finds a new type of variable represented by new public things for the study of the influencing factors of collective action, which further expands the related research on collective action. Thirdly, by focusing on rural communities, the study demonstrates that rural communities have endogenous adaptive capacity to cope with climate change in advance of disaster shocks, which further complements the research on rural disaster adaptation.
Building BLOCs: Modeling Resilience at the City-Block Scale in Philadelphia
(2024) O, Kermit
Enclosure, the division of common land into private segments which forms the underlying logic of capitalism, also finds expression in our relationships to time, space, community, the body, knowledge, labor, and life itself. Abolition derives from both the Latin abolere, to destroy, and adolere, to grow. Abolition might therefore even be defined as the dissolution of enclosures, which creates or restores pathways for living. Commoning, the return to stewardship, sharing, and solidarity, is a key strategy in our approach to abolitionist horizons. While we must resist relations of domination at every turn, it is essential to prefigure the world we want. Building BLOCs — block level organizing committees — to dream, design, and democratically develop our immediate social and material realities is one tactic being explored in Philadelphia for modeling and practicing more liberatory relations, toward greater autonomy and self-determination.
Can Nationally Prescribed Institutional Arrangements Enable Community-Based Conservation? An Analysis of Conservancies and Community Forests in the Zambezi Region of Namibia
(2021) Mbidzo, Meed; Newing, Helen; Thorn, Jessica
Community-based conservation is advocated as an idea that long-term conservation success requires engaging with, providing benefits for, and establishing institutions representing local communities. However, community-based conservation’s efficacy and impact in sustainable resource management varies depending on national natural resource policies and implications for local institutional arrangements. This paper analyses the significance of natural resource management policies and institutional design on the management of common pool resources (CPRs), by comparing Namibian conservancies and community forests. To meet this aim, we reviewed key national policies pertinent to natural resource governance and conducted 28 semi-structured interviews between 2012 and 2013. Key informants included conservancy and community forest staff and committee members, village headmen, NGO coordinators, regional foresters, wildlife officials (wardens), and senior government officials in the Minis-try of Environment and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. We explored the following questions: how do national natural resource management policies affect the operations of local common pool resource institutions? and how do external factors affect local institutions and community participation in CPRs decision-making? Our results show that a diversity of national policies significantly influenced local institutional arrangements. Formation of conservancies and community forests by communities is not only directly linked with state policies designed to increase wildlife numbers and promote forest growth or improve condition, but also formulated primarily for benefits from and control over natural resources. The often-assumed direct relationship between national policies and local institutional arrangements does not always hold in practice, resulting in institutional mismatch. We aim to advance theoretical and applied discourse on common pool resource governance in social-ecological systems, with implications for sustainable land management policies in Namibia and other landscapes across sub-Saharan Africa.
Unraveling Reciprocal Dynamics: Examining Reciprocal Relationships in Governing Common Pool Resources through Collective Action
(2024) Wang, Yiran; Hasan, Hasibul
Collective action in the governance of Common Pool Resources (CPRs) is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Elinor Ostrom's design principles have advocated the role of social relationships, trust, and reciprocity among local level stakeholders as the foundation for voluntary governance. However, practical realities sometimes necessitate the involvement of higher-level authorities, primarily governments, in CPR governance to address social dilemmas. The coexistence of governance across multiple levels underscores the need for effective collective actions that bridge these entities. Yet, scholarly examination of the reciprocal relationship between governments and local-level stakeholders remains limited. This study aims to contribute to this research gap by conducting a structured review of empirical institutional research in water management cases. By exploring how collective action is facilitated in practice, this review paper seeks to answer two fundamental research questions: Is there a reciprocal relationship between government authorities and core resource users, and if so, what characterizes the nature of this reciprocity? This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the intricacies surrounding collective action within the realm of common pool resource governance. It sheds light on the nuanced interplay between resource users and higher-level governing bodies, offering valuable insights for sustainable resource management and governance practices.
A Nonpartisan Metric for Public Policy Solutions: An Excerpt from Politics 4.0: A Unifying Theory
(2024) Denn, Jonathan
In the 18th century, a simple measurement tool, an accurate and waterproof timepiece, solved the problem of longitudinal navigation. Today, navigating choppy political waters may likewise be solved by a simple measurement tool—a universal nonpartisan scoring system for public policy solutions. This paper introduces the theory of Politics 4.0, a role-based political model, ground truth for model-based forecasting AI, the methodology, and an innovative hyper-personalized exponential polling tool to leverage the Wisdom of the Crowd, Law of Large Numbers, Mean Reversion, and Narration. The OECD has said this tool has major potential for success and replication, meaning the tool can be adapted to any country, state, county, or major city.
Hybrid modes of governance for ecosystem services provision: A review
(2024) Amblard, Laurence; Mann, Carsten
The paper deals with emerging hybrid forms of environmental governance combining state, market and community-based governance features, including policy mixes. Conceptual approaches in sociology, political science and institutional economics share a similar focus on hybrid modes of governance and policy mixes as promising approaches for dealing with current environmental and societal challenges. However, the diversity of scientific perspectives has led to different, partially overlapping, definitions and typologies in the literature. This poses limitations for analytical clarity, comparison and policy implications. The paper reviews how hybrid modes of governance for ecosystem services provision are conceptualized, taking into account their different characteristics (type of governance or policy instruments, underlying theoretical orientation, actors involved, formulation and application level). A set of 120 published journal articles serves as a basis for characterizing the different concepts, definitions and rationales of hybrid modes of governance and for synthetizing the empirical evidence on their performance. As an outcome, this paper provides for a research agenda to further improve the understanding of hybrid modes of governance and their potential for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services.
The intertemporal governance challenges of Brazil’s Amazon: managing soybean expansion, deforestation rates, and urban floods
(2023) Delaroche, Martin; Dias, Vitor M.; Massoca, Paulo Eduardo
The Brazilian Amazon faces three dominant governance challenges that have become increasingly interconnected over time and now affect each other: managing agricultural expansion, reducing deforestation, and mitigating urban floods. This region exemplifies that the governance of one social-ecological system (SES) in the Anthropocene can no longer be thought of in isolation of others because, together, they form a complex network of flows and spillovers to manage. Studying the interconnection of different decision-making areas, however, calls for an intertemporal examination of governance that integrates different methodological approaches. We use the Network of Adjacent Action Situations (NAS), Combined IAD-SES (CIS) framework, and the telecoupling framework to study these three interrelated processes in the Amazon. Employing mixed-methods research, including fieldwork covering each of these processes, we demonstrate how the governance of multiple SESs represents an intertemporal governance challenge. Our paper contributes to the SES governance and NAS literature by linking governance issues generally looked at separately and offering an understanding of the governance connections between telecoupled processes. Beyond its contribution to Brazilian Amazon governance, this paper offers an integrated framework that may be useful to study the interconnection of governance of NAS in other places.
Institutional analysis to assess inclusive decision-making in community resource management: A diagnostic review of barriers and interventions in participatory processes.
(2024) Hayes, Tanya M.; Murtinho, Felipe
Scholars and practitioners frequently cite participatory governance arrangements as critical for successful resource management. While recognizing the rights of local and indigenous communities in their own development and resource management is fundamental for sustainability, centering communal decision-making in resource management does not guarantee that said decisions will be democratic, inclusive, or equitable. A critical question for community leaders and practitioners alike, is not whether communities should have rights to manage their resource systems, but rather, how to identify and support communal decision-making processes that are inclusive of diverse voices, transparent, and just. Here, we tackle one piece of this question by using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework to diagnose how communal governance characteristics shape inclusion in local decision-making process, namely who and how distinct community members participate in resource management decision-making forums. While the IAD framework has frequently been applied to assess how local rule-making rights are linked to successful resource management outcomes, relatively few studies have used the IAD framework to diagnose participation within communal decision-making arrangements. The objectives of our paper are to identify relatively malleable local governance elements that can be tweaked to facilitate more inclusive collective decision-making in community resource management. To do so, we apply the IAD framework in conjunction with Agarwal’s participation typology to a systematic review of 59 case studies to map out the barriers to, and interventions to support, participatory decision-making in community resource management (forests, water, fisheries). Our study focuses specifically on how local governance factors influence who participates (e.g., individual attributes based on socioeconomic status; gender, race, ethnicity) and how they participate (leadership roles, voice, and influence). In our analysis, we pay particular attention to how local governance conditions (e.g., decision-making rules, leader attributes, organization) and external interventions serve to thwart or support inclusion in communal decision-making processes. In mapping out the barriers and interventions along the IAD framework, our analysis points to the need to pay more attention to how local rules arrangements shape participation, and in turn, offers specific entry points to promote more inclusive decision-making processes.

Browse By

Recent Submissions