Street-Level Bureaucrats at Work: A Municipality-Level Institutional Analysis of Community-Based Natural Resource Management Implementation Practice in the Pasture Sector of Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Abstract:The article looks into lowest-level policy implementers' (street-level bureaucrats') role in donor-initiated natural resource governance reforms. The article employs an institutional analysis framework with a specific policy implementation focus. A multiple case study reviews a resource user information campaign during the early phase of a community-based pasture management reform in Kyrgyzstan. It finds implementation rule simplification by policy implementers at the expense of full resource user involvement as a result of an insufficient contextual fit of the formal information rules. The results emphasize the need of well-designed implementation rules in order to ensure full and equitable resource user involvement in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM).

Institutional design, informal practices and international conflict: The case of community-based pasture management in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border region

“…The designed rules neither support transparent local-level management of public resources nor foster community involvement. Our study therefore is in agreement with findings from Crewett (2015aCrewett ( , 2015b, who reported on difficulties that Pasture Committees face in attempting to organize sustainable pasture use rotations and the inability of local residents to monitor actions taken by the Pasture Committee.…”

“…It has been widely applied in studies of the impact of property rights on natural resource use (e.g. Hamidov and Thiel 2011;Crewett 2015aCrewett , 2015bPrager 2010). In the present study, we adopt the central premise of the IoS, according to which the properties of the respective transactions and the characteristics of the actors involved determine which institutions (sets of rules) develop, as well as through which governance structures (organizational forms) these institutions will be implemented in practice.…”

Enhancing food security through forest landscape restoration: Lessons from Burkina Faso, Brazil, Guatemala, Viet Nam, Ghana, Ethiopia and Philippines

“…A substantial literature has focused on specifying factors affecting natural resources in communal areas, and what almost all of them have in common are institutional structure, autonomy of institutions and economic incentives (Agrawal, 2001;Blaikie, 2006;Agrawal & Ostrom, 2007;Dressler, et al, 2010). The success stories have demonstrated how economic benefits from natural resources can be ensured through the institutional structure and capacity (Sheppard, et al, 2010;Gruber, 2011;Leisher, et al, 2012;Measham & Lumbasi, 2013;Abernethy, 2014); while those dealing with failed projects indicated lack of economic incentives and poor institutional infrastructure as grounds of failure (Blaikie, 2006;Dressler, et al, 2010;Wever, et al, 2012;Dewan, et al, 2014;Crewett, 2015). Some studies have identified how economic incentives complemented by institutional adjustment are an important imperative to restore or preserve natural resources (Dressler, et al, 2010;Leisher, et al, 2012); while other researchers argue the importance of empowering beneficiaries through legal and autonomous entities (Nayak & Berkes, 2008).…”

“…This has provided them the opportunity to collaborate with all stakeholders -government, NGOs and institutions. The legal bylaws developed by these beneficiaries ensured that the resources from the restored areas were managed sustainably (Blaikie, 2006;Measham & Lumbasi, 2013;Crewett, 2015). Institutionalization also provided the opportunity to involve all beneficiaries and is believed to be the reason for the success of the restoration project (Abernethy, 2014;Crewett, 2015).…”

Social Construction of Pastureland: Changing Rules and Resource-Use Rights in China and Kyrgyzstan

“…Meanwhile, in Kyrgyzstan, the reforms carried out there are also undergoing critical assessment (Crewett 2015;Dörre 2015;Ridder, Isakov, and Kasymov 2017;Kasymov and Thiel 2019). While Crewett (2015) investigates how policy implementers at the local level ("street-level bureaucrats") have simplified information rules for the donor-initiated natural-resource governance reforms at the expense of more resource users being involved in a more participatory manner, Dörre compares the "promises" of Kyrgyzstan's pasture-related legislation and the "realities" of its implementation. In his opinion, "the recent innovation in pasture law has not comprehensively resulted in the desired outcomes on the ground" (2015: 1).…”