The Actor in 4 Dimensions: A Relevant Methodology to Analyze Local Environmental Governance and Inform Ostrom's Social-Ecological Systems Framework (original) (raw)
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… , conference on the …, 2009
Social-ecological systems' dynamics challenge institutions and their functions. For a socio-ecological system to be sustainable, a balanced interdependence of societal and ecological systems is vital. Provided the diversity of social-ecological system contexts, different institutional functions are required for sustaining the balanced interdependence of a social-ecological system. In our paper, we perform a theoretical analysis and mapping of four context images of social-ecological systems that relate to four different institutional functions. Based on our analysis, institutions need to balance, to protect, to respond and to mitigate depending on the context conditions. For communicating context and systemic conditions, knowledge transfer transferred between the different actors and across the multiple administration and spatial levels is a critical principle and four knowledge transfer patterns are presented in accordance to proposed institutional functions. Our analysis implies that institutional architectures of socialecological systems have to allow institutional multiplicity, self-organized coordination and maintain flexible rigidity of formal institutions in order to address both social-ecological system's and governance complexity and dynamics.
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Power and politics have been central topics from the early days of Political Ecology. There are different and sometimes conflicting conceptualizations of power in this field that portray power alternatively as a resource, personal attribute or relation. The aim of this article is to contribute to theorizations of power by probing contesting views regarding its role in societal change and by presenting a specific conceptualization of power, one which draws on political ecology and sociotechnical approaches in science and technology studies. We review how power has been conceptualized in the political ecology field and identify three trends that shaped current discussions. We then develop our conceptual discussion and ask explicitly where power emerges in processes of resource governance projects. 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Il existe des conceptualisations différentes et parfois contradictoires du pouvoir dans ce domaine, qui représentent le pouvoir en tant que ressource, attribut personnel ou relation. Le but de cet article est de contribuer aux théorisations du pouvoir en sondant les points de vue contestants sur son rôle dans le changement sociétal et en présentant une conceptualisation spécifique du pouvoir. C'est une approche qui s'appuie sur «political ecology» et les approches sociotechniques dans les études scientifiques et technologiques. Nous examinons comment le pouvoir a été conceptualisé dans le domaine de la «political ecology» et identifions trois tendances qui ont façonné les discussions en cours. Nous développons ensuite notre discussion conceptuelle et demandons explicitement où le pouvoir émerge dans les processus de projets de gouvernance des ressources. Nous identifions quatre endroits que nous illustrons de manière empirique à travers un exemple d'électrification rurale en Tanzanie visant à catalyser le développement social et économique, en fournissant des services d'électricité basés sur l'énergie renouvelable. Notre analyse appuie l'argument selon lequel le pouvoir est relationnel et productif et s'appuie sur des études scientifiques et technologiques pour mettre en évidence le rôle essentiel des éléments non humains dans la co-constitution de la société-la technologie-la nature. Cela nous amène à voir l'exercice du pouvoir comme ayant des effets contradictoires et ambigus. Nous concluons qu'en explorant la tension entre l'agent humain et le pouvoir constitutif, nous maintenons la politique en vie tout au long de l'analyse et montrons pourquoi les choix et les actions intentionnels comptent vraiment dans la manière dont les projets de gouvernance des ressources se déroulent dans la vie quotidienne. El poder y lo político han sido temas centrales desde los inicios de la ecología política. En este campo hay conceptualizaciones del poder que suelen ser distintas y en ocasiones opuestas, que muestran el poder tanto como un recurso, un atributo personal, o una relación. El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir a las teorizaciones sobre el poder indagando en perspectivas opositoras con respecto a su papel en el cambio social, presentando además, una conceptualización específica de poder que se basa en aproximaciones tanto socio-técnicas como de ecología política en estudios de ciencia y tecnología. Consideramos cómo el poder ha sido conceptualizado en el campo de la ecología política, e identificamos tres corrientes que han moldeado la discusión actual. Luego desarrollamos nuestra discusión conceptual y explícitamente nos preguntamos de dónde emerge el poder en procesos de proyectos de gobernanza de recursos. Identificamos cuatro locaciones que ilustramos empíricamente a través de un ejemplo de electrificación rural en Tanzania, el cual proyectaba catalizar el desarrollo social y económico al proveer servicio de electricidad basada en energías renovables. Nuestro análisis respalda el argumento que sostiene que el poder es relacional y productivo, y lo basamos en estudios de ciencia y tecnología para presentar el crítico papel de los elementos no humanos en una co-constitución de sociedad-tecnología-naturaleza. Esto nos lleva a ver el ejercicio del poder como algo que tiene efectos contradictorios y ambiguos. Concluimos que, explorando tensiones entre la agencia humana y el poder constitutivo, mantenemos lo político vigente a lo largo del análisis y podemos mostrar por qué las decisiones intencionales y las acciones, realmente importan en cómo los proyectos de gobernanza de recursos se manifiestan en el día a día.