Reading ‘participation in forest management’ through ‘modern’ and ‘post-modern’ concepts, or: where to start normative debates?

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with debates over, and practices of, 'participation' in development and natural resource management. It discusses the 'participation in forest management' using dichotomised research perspectives, formulated in a pronounced, generalised, and partly provocative way, i.e. 'modern' and 'post-modern'. The chapter draws on, the insights gained into rural development and forestry in the Indian state of Kerala, in Switzerland, and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. It shows that 'participation in forest management' has become mainstream. The chapter illustrates what is called here the 'modem' reading of participation. It introduces the 'postmodern' one and describes the normative dilemma. Analysing – through a notion of 'postmodern' – forest management as a contested domain with various actors claiming to be 'right', leads to a dilemma on the normative side. The dilemma arises because on the one hand, many actors emerge as active participants in forest management.