Conceptualizing power to study social-ecological interactions

Boonstra, Wiebren J.

doi:10.5751/es-07966-210121

Cited by 119 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Power is considered essential for explaining causality in social-ecological interactions, and, through such explanations, to allocate responsibility for social and ecological outcomes (Boonstra 2016). Investigation of the role of power in the case of the mackerel mismatch helps to understand the interdependence between the major players in this case, and why until now they fail to implement a functional agreement and management scheme.…”

Section: Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The concept power always refers to social power and intends to capture the abilities that allow humans to influence the conduct of others and the contexts in which these others are situated. Recently, it has been argued that the term "others" not only does refer to other humans but also includes non-anthropogenic entities (Stone-Jovicich 2015), and that "contexts" refers to both social and environmental contexts (Boonstra 2016). In this paper power is operationalized as 'balances of power' as introduced by the sociologist Norbert Elias.…”

Section: Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental change and social conflict: the northeast Atlantic mackerel dispute

2017

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A recurrent critique of the proposition of a causal relation between environmental change and social conflict is that it fails to account for the complexities and dynamics of processes of social-ecological change. In this article, we open the black box of contextual factors that influence the causal pathway from environmental change to social conflict. Firstly, we argue for the consideration of three social factors that influence that pathway: (a) institutions, (b) power, and (c) knowledge. Taking a deductive approach, we ascertain their causal importance in the case of the "mackerel dispute," an interstate conflict that unfolded after the abrupt and rapid change in distribution of the northeast Atlantic mackerel stock after 2007. We analyze the historical development of the mackerel dispute through process tracing and demonstrate the importance and causal role of the three factors. Secondly, based on our assessment, we argue to increase the diversity of the scope conditions relevant for the environmental changesocial conflict nexus. We propose to consider a wider variety of conflicts as outcome of environmental change, highincome regions as an arena for those conflicts, and a wider variety of environmental change, such as alterations in abundance in the context of climate change. Lastly, we discuss how future research on this topic can handle the wider scope conditions and greater case variability.

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Section: Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental change and social conflict: the northeast Atlantic mackerel dispute

2017

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“…As places are partially socially constructed, their meanings can be socially contested and renegotiated (Pred 1984, Zukin 1991, Lyon 2014, Ingalls and Stedman 2016. Therefore, sense of place brings potential new tools and language for SES and resilience research to engage further with issues of "power to and power over" (Boonstra 2016) in collective action and negotiations of stewardship in SES. It is important that future research considers how and why certain place meanings and interests are promoted and reproduced through guided transformations toward sustainability (Leach et al 2012) as well as in international decision making on sustainability issues such as climate change (Adger et al 2011).…”

Section: Whose Meanings Are Included and Favored And Why And Implicamentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

Masterson¹,

Stedman²,

Enqvist³

et al. 2017

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ABSTRACT. To develop and apply goals for future sustainability, we must consider what people care about and what motivates them to engage in solving sustainability issues. Sense of place theory and methods provide a rich source of insights that, like the socialecological systems perspective, assume an interconnected social and biophysical reality. However, these fields of research are only recently beginning to converge, and we see great potential for further engagement. Here, we present an approach and conceptual tools for how the sense of place perspective can contribute to social-ecological systems research. A brief review focuses on two areas where relation to place is particularly relevant: stewardship of ecosystem services, and responses to change in social-ecological systems. Based on the review, we synthesize specific ways in which sense of place may be applied by social-ecological systems researchers to analyze individual and social behaviors. We emphasize the importance of descriptive place meanings and evaluative place attachment as tools to study the patterned variation of sense of place within or among populations or types of places and the implications for resilience and transformative capacity. We conclude by setting out an agenda for future research that takes into account the concerns of resilience thinking such as the effects of dynamic ecology, interactions between temporal and spatial scales, and the interplay of rapid and incremental change on sense of place and place-related behaviors. This future research agenda also includes concerns from the broader sense of place literature such as the importance of structural power relationships on the creation of place meanings and how scaling up a sense of place may influence pro-environmental behavior.

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“…According to Kotschy et al (2015), (un)balance can be related to the relative power that human groups can apply. Further research would be needed to ascertain how inequalities in terms of economic, cultural, and social capital (Boonstra 2016) would constitute power for the different user groups in the lagoon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some scholars (Allison and Ellis 2001, Ellis andAllison 2004, Brugère et al 2008) argue that although management and conservation can postpone degradation, livelihood alternatives help to reduce pressure on natural resources and improve livelihoods. So far, a few studies have investigated livelihood alternatives in relation to trap dynamics in the Tam Giang lagoon (Boonstra andHanh 2015, Betcherman and. Boonstra and Hanh (2015) especially point out that income diversification could get the resource users more entrapped.…”

Section: A Social-ecological Trap In the Tam Giang Lagoonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can income diversification resolve social-ecological traps in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the global south? A case study of response diversity in the Tam Giang lagoon, central Vietnam

Hanh¹,

Boonstra²

2018

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Small-scale fishers and aquaculturists in the global south often face reinforcing feedbacks between resource degradation and livelihood impoverishment, a situation conceptualized as a social-ecological trap. It is argued that these traps can be overcome through income diversification, i.e., livelihoods that are maintained from variable income sources. Our aim was to further scrutinize that claim using the concept of response diversity. To do so, we applied the concept and analyzed income diversification in the Tam Giang lagoon, central Vietnam. Based on our analysis, we argue that high diversity in income activities does not necessarily lead to an escape from social-ecological traps. Although diversity in income activities in the case of the Tam Giang lagoon is relatively high, fisheries-and aquaculture-related income activities continue to dominate livelihood portfolios. The various gear and structures that these activities include all exploit the same ecologies, habitats, and niches of the lagoon. This finding triggers questions concerning the relative contribution of income activities to household income, but also how activities are (differently) connected to natural environments. Income diversification can only sustain natural resources and improve human well-being if it truly transforms livelihoods by connecting local users in new ways to ecologies and societies.

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Conceptualizing power to study social-ecological interactions

Cited by 119 publications

References 58 publications

Environmental change and social conflict: the northeast Atlantic mackerel dispute

Environmental change and social conflict: the northeast Atlantic mackerel dispute

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

Can income diversification resolve social-ecological traps in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture in the global south? A case study of response diversity in the Tam Giang lagoon, central Vietnam

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