External recognition and local autonomy
- Variable relationship:
Ostrom (1990) and several other authors have noted that local level management can suffer from resource degradation (Commons Condition Trend) as a result of low compliance (Compliance) and social-ecological fit (Social-ecological Fit) when national governments and their agents fail to recognize the rights of communities to self-organize (External Recognition).
Such resource degradation represents a failure to fulfill the seventh of Ostrom's (1990) design principles. "In some cases, local-level management efforts fail because of factors outside the community. High on this list of factors includes interference by government officials who are reluctant to give power to locals (Pinkerton and Weinstein 1995). There are many cases in the literature where rules were established by local communities that then went out of existence. In the developing world, Western colonial governments may undermine the power of local political authorities and the resource-management rules they had enforced (Johannes 1978; Pradhan and Parks 1995)" (Quote from Acheson 2006).
- Project
- SESMAD
- Sector(s)
- Scientific Field
- Component Type(s)
- Status
- Public
Variables
| Variable | Role | Role Explanation | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| External recognition | Proximate independent variable | When the rights of resource users to self-organize are not formally or informally recognized by external authorities; incentives to invest in the management of natural resources is low. | Low |
| Compliance | Moderating independent variable | When local commons users' rules are overridden, they are unlikely to follow the rules that replace their own. | No |
| Social-ecological fit | Intermediate outcome | When centralized rules are imposed on local contexts and replace local rules, they may not fit well with the contexts that these local rules were adapted to. | Low |
| Commons condition trend | Final outcome | When groups fail to self-organize it often leads to depletion of natural resources. | Worsened |
Related Theories
| Theory | Relationship | Characterizing Variables |
|---|---|---|
| CBNRM design principles | nested | |
| Polycentric comanagement | nested | |
| Failure of centralized control | related | |
| Social-ecological fit theory | contains |