A postmortem of forest policy dynamics of Nepal

Evolution of public policy is governed by various factors of political change, institutional realignment, and global environmental discourse. Improved understanding of these factors is a prerequisite for policy-makers to solve forestry related socio-economic and environmental issues. In this study, we assessed the policy and institutional shifts in Nepal’s forest policy regime through discursive institutionalism framework. We conducted a literature review, including Nepal’s forest policy documents that were developed after 1950, and undertook an in-depth interview with twenty-five people representing five stakeholders groups. Based on specific features and objectives of the policies, we classified and discussed four different evolving periods of forestry sector: (1) strict protection period (1950–1975); (2) resource creation for crisis management period (1975–1986); (3) participatory forestry period (1986–2008); and (4) period of broad-based global normative discourse (2008 onwards). Our results showed that framing of ideas and discourse, and its interacting environment (dialectic space and discursive sphere) have determined institutionalization and deinstitutionalization of the country’s forest policy. In addition, Nepal’s forest policy pathways were shaped by a shift in 1) domestic political systems, 2) global environmental discourse and institution, and 3) the process of paradigmatic change and transformation. We conclude that policy durability and discursive shift in public policy are governed by how policy making-institutions embrace public aspirations and consider socio-political context of the country while framing policy discourse. We argue that articulation of discourses into discursive spheres and its ways of deliberation for discursive practices largely defines the trajectories- institutionalization and deinstitutionalization of public policy.     

The Good Governance Agenda: Beyond Indicators without Theory

Effective government matters, but what is it? Good governance indicators go some way to provide a definition, but how much do they say about what effectiveness is, why this is so, and how it matters to development? This article argues that much work on the good governance agenda suggests a one-best-way model, ostensibly of an idyllic, developed country government: Sweden or Denmark on a good day, perhaps. The implied model lacks consistency, however, seems inappropriate for use in the development dialogue and is not easily replicated. In short, it resembles a set of well meaning but problematic proverbs. The good governance picture of effective government is not only of limited use in development policy but also threatens to promote dangerous isomorphism, institutional dualism and “flailing states”. It imposes an inappropriate model of government that “kicks away the ladder” that today's effective governments climbed to reach their current states. The model's major weakness lies in the lack of an effective underlying theoretical framework to assist in understanding government roles and structures in development. A framework is needed before we measure government effectiveness or propose specific models of what government should look like. Given the evidence of multiple states of development, the idea of a one-best-way model actually seems very problematic.     

西方国家环境保护中的公众参与

公众参与环境保护是公众及其代表根据国家环境法律赋予的权利和义务,它兴起于西方发达国家,公众的广泛参与在西方国家的环境保护与环境改善过程中发挥了重要作用。西方国家的民主思想的传统、大力的环境宣传与环境教育以及法律的规范为公众参与环境保护提供了坚实的基础,美国、欧盟、日本、加拿大的公众参与环境保护方面表现出参与的主体的广泛性、参与方式的多样性和可行性及参与范围的深入与广泛性的特征,可供我国借鉴。     

村庄治理现代化进程中农民自组织公共参与逻辑与进路——基于3个典型案例的研究

本文选取3个农民自组织作为研究案例,这3个农民自组织分属于治理现代化处于不同阶段的3个村庄,具体分析其农民自组织公共参与的现实逻辑。基于理论逻辑与现实逻辑的分析指出,农民自组织公共参与逻辑沿着组织及其成员经济利益最大化、村庄治理权力和治理地位的获取、组织公共精神培育及村庄公共价值实现的路径推进。村庄应基于农民自组织公共参与逻辑及进路,采取选择性激励方法,激励农民自组织公共参与,推进村庄治理现代化。     

Power relationships: Their effect on the governance of community forestry in the Philippines

This paper examines the impact of unequal power relationships on the governance of community forestry groups (CFGs) in the Philippines. Devolution of power has long been considered to be a ‘magic bullet’ in the governance of CFGs. However, poor governance which involves unequal power relationships between state agencies, forest user groups and rural people, produces unequal access in decision-making, sharing of authority and responsibility. This engenders local resistance from those who feel excluded and marginalised in the process. Drawing on Bourdieu’s notion of ‘symbolic violence’, we examine how unequal power relationships between State and local agencies have facilitated destruction of mature and newly planted timber plantations. Studies of a harvesting and a reforestation project found that the adverse effects of poor governance occurred at two tiers, first at an upper level between the government and CFGs, and second, at a lower level between CFG’s and local people. Poor governance at upper levels has triggered both symbolic and physical violence on and from people who remained marginal to the benefits of harvesting and reforestation. We conclude that a key requirement for sustainable community-managed forests is to expand benefit sharing to non-CFG local people. Our findings highlight the importance of lower-tier levels of governance within CFGs and between CFGs and local people.     

Albert Hirschman's Exit-voice Framework and its Relevance to Problems of Public Education Performance in Latin America

This paper applies Albert Hirschman's exit-voice framework to the problems of education coverage and quality in Latin America. It argues that the combination of low direct taxation and high levels of private primary enrolment provides exit options for the wealthy and reduces their incentive to exercise their “voice”, or protest mechanisms, in the face of poor education performance. It also argues that fragmented and clientelist political party structures limit the provision and monitoring of public education, and also reduce the political capacity of the poor to exercise their voice regarding public education coverage and quality. The main policy implication of the paper is that good governance in education cannot realistically be addressed without analysing how the structure of power and voice, and of conflicts of interest within civil society, affect the actual political pressures that state institutions face.     

Peasant differentiation and service provision in Colombia

This paper contributes to agrarian debates through a discussion of the interactions between the interests and incentives of the rural classes, focusing especially on the leadership exercised by middle‐size farmers. In the recent past, class analysis associated with Marxism has given way to models of individual rational maximization, not least because of the lack of specific findings about the effects of peasant differentiation beyond the dichotomous class conflict between peasants and landlords. Information has replaced asset distribution as the main factor affecting effective governance and service provision. According to these theories, politicians did not deliver less because they were responding to the preferences of the large landowning classes, or because seemingly competitive elections were games of rotating chairs within a single dominant class but, rather, because the voters did not have enough information about the candidates and programmes. I bring the discussion back to peasant differentiation and class endowments using the case of communal action boards in Colombia, showing how the demand for information on candidates and developmental resources matters, but is dependent on class structures. I suggest that different rural groups access, use, and manipulate information with differing aims, and that the rural middle class is a fundamental actor in the demand for public goods.     

Adapting governance for coastal change in Portugal

In many countries, but particularly in Portugal, coastal conditions are already endangered by flooding and erosion, both likely to increase as a result of climate change. This daunting prospect raises critical questions of sustainability; social justice; genuine public participation and social learning; effective financing for long term social and economic benefit; connected polycentric governance; and the appropriate use of scientific knowledge bonded to public and political trust. While the development of most shorelines is nominally shaped by public administrative action, rapid coastal migration and excessive economic concentration have turned many threatened coastlines into a stage for settlement hazard and institutional chaos. In Portugal, despite clear evidence of increasing flooding and erosion, appropriate management responses are proving inadequate, both in the turbulent planning framework and in the scarce financial provision for future safeguard. The only plausible alternatives seem to lie in the processes of progressive adaptive governance, involving the trust and full participation of local communities; strongly supported scientific assessments of threat and safety; and fresh approaches to finding suitable funding sources. However, as evident from interviews with key actors in coastal planning in Portugal, the lack of policy clarity and political will, the weak science and poor coordination of stakeholders, combined with the particular regenerating coastal cultures of these communities, make any organised adaptive approaches highly problematic. This consequently places more emphasis on the rich cultural meanings of coastal occupation; of national identity in a time of economic crisis; of social justice in a period of reduced coastal maintenance funding; and of a more measured and sequential approach to an adaptive coastal governance.     

矿山生命周期性环境治理模式探析

我国通过倡导绿色勘查、推进绿色矿山建设,在矿山环境治理方面取得阶段性成效,但仍存在着矿山环境治理碎片化和中空化等问题。文章在研究矿业发达国家矿山环境治理模式基础上,结合我国国情研究提出我国建立矿山生命周期性环境治理体系建议,包括鼓励探索最佳工业实践,制定矿山生命周期各阶段环境管理的详细指南,建立矿山环境绩效评价与配套激励制度,形成制度与机制加强和规范公众参与,以及加强本底调查和矿山生命周期性环境动态监测等。     

Compliance and market exclusion in Brazilian agriculture: Analysis and implications for “soft” governance

“Soft” or “hybrid” governance holds considerable promise in attempts to reconfigure state-market-society relationships toward improved environmental outcomes. “Soft” governance processes in Brazil's globally competitive, high-input/output agriculture sector have major implications for landuse policies. Here we identify and analyze two emergent processes, a compliance regime and bioregion-based market exclusion approach, that stand out amid a background of conflicts between agricultural land uses and environmental regulation. We address the effectiveness of “soft” governance, using a framework that focuses on interactions among state and non-state actors, use of geographic information, relations to global processes, and discourse. These policies may play an important role in bridging the divide between environmental and agricultural interests, but market and state actors, and the uneven effects of globalization, will influence effectiveness. Our framework for analyzing governance processes should complement future work that directly measures environmental outcomes.     

网络民主在转型期中国的异化和出路

网络民主是互联网技术发展的产物。它对拓宽利益表达渠道、整合民意、提高政治参与水平起到积极作用。中国的网络民主异化与中国社会转型的现实背景密切相关。网民参与心理非理性,参与主体、议题和制度等存在的问题,导致网络民主在发展中出现异化。结合中国社会转型期的特点,笔者认为可以从以下几点探寻出路:培养健康的网络政治文化和成熟的民主意识、政府公开权威信息推动网络议题多样化、加快国家信息化建设实现参与主体多元化,同时推动网络民主的制度化建设。     

What lies beneath: Climate change,land expropriation,and zaï agroecological innovations by smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana

Large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) are increasing in Ghana amid a weak legal and regulatory framework. This paper explores the impacts of this phenomenon on farmer innovations under recurrent environmental changes. Using a case study of zaï, an indigenous innovative farming practice, the paper makes two interrelated arguments. Firstly, it shows that the pervasive enclosures coerced by the Ghanaian state undermine how indigenous knowledge could be proactively deployed for climate risk management. Secondly, LSLAs produce a social barrier to climate change adaptation, as they lead to heightened uncertainty and apprehension among farmers, which affects decisions on climate risk management. More specifically, land expropriation is an example of how adaptation could be hindered by governance, institutions, and policy at the extra-local scale, including not only existing land use laws, but also the constitutional guarantee of private property. The evidence supporting these arguments come from survey data on 619 plots, 70 in-depth interviews, village-level transect walks, and participant observations. Overall, the paper contributes to emerging debates at the interface of land use policy, climate justice, and sustainable adaptation. Theoretically, it also contributes to understanding State-society relations, as well as the political economy of eminent domain, often justified through discourses of “public benefits.”     

我国社会组织的总体性分析——基于CSSCI(2009—2019)的知识图谱研究

社会组织作为社会治理结构的重要主体之一,是推动国家治理和社会治理能力现代化的重要力量。为了解我国社会组织研究的总体性状况,文章通过Cite space软件对2009—2019年CSSCI期刊收录的995篇论文进行了信息挖掘和分析,根据相关知识图谱可得:学界对社会组织领域的研究基本可以分为两个阶段;研究者主要集中在政治学、社会学和公共管理学科领域;研究热点聚焦于"政府和社会组织关系""社会组织参与社会治理""政府购买社会组织服务"及"社会组织公共性"等方面。未来的研究应致力于创新中国特色的社会组织发展模式,推动社会组织健康有序发展。     

多中心合作治理:环境公共管理的发展方向

理论和实践已证明:私有化——市场、中央集权——利维坦作为环境问题的解决方案均已遭遇失败,从而产生对多中心环境治理的制度需求。目前,建构环境公共事务的多中心合作治理模式应简化政府环境管制、构筑公众参与的基础、推行环境管理的地方化及区域合作、建立政府与企业的合作伙伴关系。     

精准扶贫政策与边缘贫困群体政治信任--基于断点回归的证据

维持农户基层政治信任稳态,是促进精准扶贫政策有效实施的必然要求,也是实现乡村振兴战略下治理有效目标的重要基础。本文利用2017年6个集中连片贫困地区1140户农户样本数据,通过断点回归模型重点考察了精准扶贫政策对边缘贫困群体基层政治信任的影响。研究结果表明:精准扶贫政策的悬崖效应对边缘贫困群体与基层组织间的政治信任稳态造成了一定冲击。具体来看,边缘贫困群体受到精准扶贫政策排斥,其基层政治信任相较于建档立卡农户降低了2.32;同时,基于边缘贫困群体在收入分配中的不利地位,其基层政治信任相较于高收入建档立卡农户降低了0.76。因此,为提升乡村治理能力,完善乡村治理新体系,需要严格执行现行贫困标准,调整精准扶贫政策的保障结构,并通过基础设施建设、公共服务供给及外部机会提供等方式,为大量发展能力薄弱的边缘贫困群体提供良好的发展机会和福利保障。     

Evaluating participation in WFD river basin management in England and Wales: Processes,communities, outputs and outcomes

Participatory environmental governance is increasing worldwide. One area where such governance forms are apparent is in the management of water resources. For example, in the European Union the Water Framework Directive mandates several forms of involvement via its legal obligations. Under the Directive, implementing agencies should provide information on river basin management planning to the public, consult citizens and stakeholders during planning and actively involve interested parties in the plan process. Yet questions arise over the success of participatory processes on the ground in EU member states. In this study, participation was therefore evaluated in WFD river basin planning in England and Wales using process, community, output and outcome-related indicators. Research was conducted through extensive quantitative and qualitative data collection over a long temporal scale within case analyses of the Anglian, Humber and South West river basin districts. Results suggest that while the first phase of river basin management largely met legal requirements, the actual success of participatory water governance was mixed. On this basis, recommendations are made for enhancing participation in future river basin planning through national and EU policy.     

Claiming the Grounds for Reform: Agrarian and Environmental Movements in Indonesia

This essay examines the convergences, tensions and mutual influences of agrarian and environmental movements in Indonesia and their connections to transnational movements under state-led development and neoliberal governance regimes. The authors argue that environmental movements of the last quarter of the twentieth century affected the strategies, struggles, mutual relations with, and public discourses of resurgent agrarian movements in diverse ways. Environmental movements had significant influences on national policy, law and practice within a decade of their emergence under the state-led development regime of President Suharto. Environmental activists used the appearance of technical 'apolitical' concerns to their advantage. They mobilized at multiple scales, targeting laws and other institutions of state power at the same time as organizing the grassroots. The repression of the Suharto regime forced agrarian reform activists underground, while environmental issues were mainstreamed. Agrarian movements in Indonesia today, under a decentralized regime dominated by neoliberal policies, have faced new opportunities and constraints due to national and transnational influences of environmental and agrarian reform discourses and networks. We show how these influences have changed the political fields within which Indonesian agrarian movement groups operate: forming, shifting and struggling over critical alliances.     

Adoption and diffusion of improved technologies and production practices in agriculture: Insights from a donor-led intervention in Nepal

Adoptions of improved technologies and production practices are important drivers of agricultural development in low-income countries like Nepal. Adopting a broad class of such technologies and practices is often critical for meeting the multifaceted goals of efficiency, profitability, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience. This study aims to address the knowledge gaps that still exist concerning what determines the adoption of improved technologies and production practices, the factors affecting their diffusion, the impact of interventions on productivity and crops grown, and the variability of impact within a particular country context. In this paper we address these questions using data collected as part of the USAID-led Knowledge-Based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal (KISAN) project. We adopted a multistage sampling technique and surveyed 988 beneficiary households and 997 non-beneficiary households in KISAN intervention districts and non-intervention districts. Our findings suggest that, in Nepal, adoption of improved technologies and practices is significantly increased by improved access to markets, private sector involvement in selling improved seeds and disseminating information, membership in progressive farmers groups and cooperative societies, participation in agricultural training and farm visits, provision of subsidies for seeds, and access to credit. We also found the probability of the adoption of improved practices to be affected by farmers’ sources of information; for instance, the adoption of improved practices was increased when farmers obtained information from informal sources, cooperatives/farmers organizations, and public and private extension programs. The effects of KISAN projects vary significantly across the different crops grown, based on the evaluation models that address self-selection of both project participation and crop choices. These implications may also apply to other parts of the world facing similar challenges as Nepal, where limited market access, insufficient knowledge and resource capacity of farmers constrain their adoption of improved technologies and practices in agriculture.     

Public participation and local environmental planning: Testing factors influencing decision quality and implementation in four case studies from Germany

Public and stakeholder participation in environmental planning is often assumed to enhance effectiveness through improving the environmental quality of decisions and enhancing implementation. We draw on the literature on participatory environmental governance in order to derive key participation-related factors that are hypothesized to impact on decision quality and implementation. We then outline four cases of decision-making processes in local environmental planning in Germany, representing a variety of forms of public participation, and what we suggest can be seen as four different pathways to ‘success’ in participatory planning. The case studies, recounted on the basis of stakeholder interviews and secondary research, are subjected to a cross-case analysis in order to examine the influence of participation in each case. We consider how key participation-related factors played out across the cases, and assess both decision quality and implementation against counterfactual non-participatory, or less-participatory, scenarios. In moving beyond accounts of ‘what happened’, and considering how participation changed the order of things relative to ‘what would have happened’ under different scenarios, the research highlights how very different pathways may lead to ‘success’ in participatory environmental planning from the viewpoint of process organizers and planners sympathetic to environmental issues. We conclude that, given the significance of context and surprises, planners and process organizers must be open to different pathways to the successful conclusion of participatory planning processes.     

Lost in participation: How local knowledge was overlooked in land use planning and risk governance in Tōhoku,Japan

This article aims to identify gaps in public participation in land use planning to improve risk governance, using the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) in 2011. Overreliance on technical information and on the opinion of experts is occurring side by side along with negligence of local knowledge and lack of effective public participation in decision-making, creating a sense of overconfidence regarding scientific knowledge and new infrastructure's abilities to withstand future disasters. Using the case study method in GEJE, our research identified three main overall gaps in participation. Firstly, a lot of local knowledge from previous experiences was not incorporated into land use plans in the region even after similar events in the past. Secondly, there was technical information that alerted to possible risks for land use in certain areas, but this information did not impede development in risk areas due to lack of effective participation in the land use planning processes. Finally, Japan allows participation in many land use planning process, but some of the most important decisions, such as on the sitting of nuclear plants had little or any local participation. Thus, strengthening public participation in land use by closing those three gaps could improve risk governance and resilience of localities to cope with large natural and technological disasters in the future.