Abstract
In this paper, we argue that, like a three-legged stool, participatory programs require three elements for stability: a supply of participatory institutions, a demand from citizens to participate, and citizens with capabilities for participation. We illustrate the importance of these three elements using case studies from forest management in central India and southern Mexico, and use the evidence from these cases to suggest hypotheses for future investigation. We argue that when participatory programs are implemented in places where demand for citizen engagement is weak and citizens lack the capability to engage, participation is unlikely. On the other hand, where people demand to participate and have the capability to do so, they are sometimes able to overcome obstacles to utilizing participatory institutions. Individuals’ agency for citizen engagement is developed in interaction with the structures of participation; this means that there may be a long-term synergy between the supply of participatory institutions and the development of skills and demand for citizen engagement. Our work implies that designers of participatory programs should pay equal attention to cultivating participatory capabilities, providing incentives that enhance demand for participation, and building institutions to open spaces for participation in governance. Building participatory environmental governance may thus require long-term, sustained attention to both citizenship and institution-building.
Highlights
There is a growing body of evidence that public participation in decision-making is an important factor in the success of a wide variety of environmental programs in developing countries (Chhatre and Agrawal 2008; Agarwal 2010; Persha et al 2011; Fleischman et al 2014; Rodriguez Solórzano 2014, 2016)
In this paper, we argue that, like a three-legged stool, participatory programs require three elements for stability: a supply of participatory institutions, a demand from citizens to participate, and citizens with capabilities for participation
As we will see in this paper, neither of these streams are adequate to explain the rise of locally-based political participation that we describe
Summary
There is a growing body of evidence that public participation in decision-making is an important factor in the success of a wide variety of environmental programs in developing countries (Chhatre and Agrawal 2008; Agarwal 2010; Persha et al 2011; Fleischman et al 2014; Rodriguez Solórzano 2014, 2016). The second questions the underlying motivation for formal participatory reforms, arguing that they are often designed to coerce people, to co-opt pre-existing informal mechanisms, or are standardized elements added to all programs with the goal of satisfying donor demands, with no intention of facilitating participation (Cooke and Kothari 2001; Hickey and Mohan 2004; Larson and Ribot 2007; Gaventa and Martorano 2016) These arguments focus on the way that institutional designs for participatory programs stack the deck against those negatively affected by environmental programs – poor people in developing countries. These scholars are skeptical that institutional reforms will enable the oppressed to engage in meaningful participation in the context of oppressive post-colonial
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