Suchergebnisse

Metadata only record ; This report has two main recommendations: (1) to work with democratic local government to institutionalize downwardly accountable representation and (2) transfer environmental powers to create local discretion. ; Available in SANREM office, FS

Decentralisation reforms are taking place across Africa. In decentralization concerning natural resources, local institutions being chosen to receive powers and the degree and form of power transfers, however, do not establish conditions for more efficient or equitable use and management. A combination of locally accountable representation and discretionary powers are also needed. This combined condition is rarely established. Alternative local institutions are chosen even when democratic local bodies exist. This choice and the failure to transfer discretionary powers can undermine local democratic bodies and concentrate powers in the executive branch. (InWent/DÜI)

Metadata only record ; Decentralization across Africa are re-organizing the roles and powers of local actors in the name of increasing participation of local populations in governance. How these reforms affect popular participation depends on the local institutional arrangements they create: which actors receive powers, what powers they receive, and the relations of accountability these actors are located in. This review covers a portion of the literature and characterizes decentralizations and attempts to explain their outcomes in Africa. ; Available in SANREM office, FS

Metadata only record ; This chapter explores the role of factors beyond the physical and financial means of the state as they affect the state's capacity to management the use and conservation of natural resources. The social and political-economic dynamics that occurs between official environmental management policies and actual management practice are examined. ; Available in SANREM office, FS

Metadata only record ; Colonial relations of political administration are being reproduced in the current era of participation and decentralisation. In natural resource management, participation and decentralisation are promoted on the basis that they can increase equity, yield greater efficiency, benefit the environment and contribute to rural development. Reaping these benefits is predicated on (1) the devolution of some real powers over natural resources to local populations, and (2) the existence of locally accountable authorities to whom those powers can be devolved. However, a limited set of highly circumscribed powers are being devolved to locally accountable authorities, and most local authorities to whom powers are being devolved are systematically structured to be upwardly accountable to the central state, rather than downwardly accountable to local populations. Many of the new laws being passed in the name of participation and decentralisation administer rather than enfranchise. The article examines the historical legal underpinnings of the powers and accountability of state-backed rural authorities (chiefs and rural councils), the authorities through which current natural resource management projects in Burkina Faso and in Mali represent local populations, and the decisions being devolved to local bodies in new natural resource management efforts. Without reform local interventions risk reproducing the inequities of their centralised political--administrative context. Rather than pitting the state against society by depicting the state as a negative force and society and non-state institutions as positive--as is done in many decentralisation and participatory efforts--this article suggests that representation through local government can be the basis of general and enduring participation by society in public affairs.

Metadata only record ; Who profits from commercial forestry, and how? Through access mapping with commodity chain analysis this article examines the distribution of benefits from Senegal's charcoal trade and the multiple market mechanisms underpinning that distribution. Benefits from charcoal are derived from direct control over forest access, as well as through access to markets, labour opportunities, capital, and state agents and officials. Access to these arenas is based on a number of inter-related mechanisms including legal property, social identity, social relations, coercion and information control. ; Available in SANREM office, FS

What are the democracy effects of 'decentralisation' reforms and projects? Most developing countries have launched decentralisation reforms for the purpose of improving service delivery, local development and management. In these reforms and projects, however, governments, international development agencies and large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are transferring power to a wide range of local institutions, including private bodies, customary authorities, and NGOs. Recognition of these other local institutions means that fledgling local governments are receiving few public powers and face competition for legitimacy. Under what conditions is the new plurality of approaches and local interlocutors fostering local democratic consolidation or resulting in fragmented forms of authority and belonging? Through case studies in Benin, Guatemala, India, Malawi, Russia, Senegal, and South Africa, this issue explores the effects of institutional choices and recognition by governments, international development agencies and large NGOs on three dimensions of democracy: 1) representation, 2) citizenship and 3) the public domain. This article outlines an approach to the politics of institutional choice and recognition while drawing out findings from the articles in this issue.