Reinventing Institutions: Bricolage and the Social Embeddedness of Natural Resource Management
Cleaver, Frances D.
Cleaver, Frances D.
Publication Date
2002-12-01
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
closedAccess
Accepted for publication
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Collections
Additional title
Abstract
This study questions the idea that appropriate mechanisms can be designed to
ensure optimum resource use, beneficial collective action and hence to build
social capital. I argue here that the school of ‘institutional crafting’ in natural
resource management is based on concepts which are inadequately socially
informed and which ill-reflect the complexity , diversity and ad hoc nature of
institutional formation.
Three aspects of institutional bricolage are illustrated here: the multiple
identities of the bricoleurs; the frequency of cross-cultural borrowing and of
multi-purpose institutions; and the prevalence of arrangements and norms
which foster co-operation, respect and non-direct reciprocity over lifecourses.
In elaborating the concept of bricolage, I raise questions about whether
local institutions are amenable to design, the scope for negotiating the norms
which underlie institutional arrangements and the extent to which different
institutions may be emancipatory or exclusionary. I conclude that development
interventions aimed at institution building should be based on a socially
informed analysis of the content and effects of institutional arrangements,
rather than on their form alone.
Version
No full-text in the repository
Citation
Cleaver FD (2002) Reinventing institutions: bricolage and the social embeddedness of natural resource management. European Journal of Development Research. 14(2): 11-30.
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Article