Max Weber in the tropics: How global climate politics facilitates the bureaucratization of forestry in Indonesia

Abstract

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is one of the most advanced global climate governance arrangements and we show that it contributes to the buildup of autonomous capacities and reliable procedures in areas of rather limited statehood. These partially unintended effects can be conceptualized as an increasing rational-legal bureaucratization, which has been initiated through both external and domestic actors as we illuminate in the case of Indonesia's forestry sector in the period from 2007 until 2017. Our finding is that a bureaucratization of a new kind is increasingly strengthened in Indonesia's forest despite enduring patterns of neopatrimonialism, emerging signs of new public management approaches, and the strengthening of functional equivalents such as community-based forest management. We thus claim that Max Weber's perspective on the prospects and problems of rational-legal bureaucratization is still valuable, even when travelling to the tropics.

Implementing market mechanisms in the Paris era: the importance of bureaucratic capacity building for international climate policy

“…In the context of international climate cooperation in general and the establishment of carbon markets in particular, the presented challenges are especially pronounced (Lederer & Höhne, 2021;Fankhauser & Lavic, 2003).…”

Sustainable development of carbon sinks? Lessons from three types of peatland partnerships in Indonesia

“…That these administrative boundaries failed to take into account the ecological properties of peatlands arguably constituted their greatest weakness. However, local jurisdictions were generally found to benefit from more politically stable and enduring governance systems, factors associated with relatively successful lowcarbon programmes elsewhere in Southeast Asia (Brockhaus et al, 2017;Lederer & Höhne, 2021). Siak Green District, for example, was able to reduce wildfires within its borders because it mapped onto the local government's jurisdiction to coordinate a district-wide Community-Based Forest Fire Management system.…”

The geopolitics of negative emissions technologies: learning lessons from REDD+ and renewable energy for afforestation, BECCS, and direct air capture

“…Others have been more positive arguing that, under specific circumstances, the resources employed did lead to change and that some success can be seen (e.g. Korhonen-Kurki et al, 2018), particularly if one focuses on the effects REDD+ had on institutions and policies (Lederer & Höhne, 2019). But, also those more positive accounts stress that these changes entail conflicts and trade-offs that have to do with the territorial requirements and material aspects of REDD+ (ibid.).…”