Curse or blessing? Local elites in Joint Forest Management in India’s Shiwaliks

Abstract

This article suggests that local elites play an instrumental role – either with positive or negative consequences – in shaping struggles for power over processes and outcomes of participatory forest management interventions, when implemented in communities characterized by social hierarchies. We show how the contrasting outcomes of joint forest management in two case study villages cannot be attributed to institutional reform, but appear to be caused largely by differences in the role assumed by local elites. The evidence indicates that institutional reform itself does not guarantee changes in the actual management of natural resources. Rather, vested interests at the local level and among State actors may continue to shape events while working within or beyond the new institutional landscape. On the basis of the results of our case studies, the article poses the hypothesis that a network theory of social capital could be a useful way of analyzing such diverse outcomes of similar institutional reforms implemented in relatively similar communities. We conclude by arguing that attempts at institutional reform at the level of the community in hierarchical societies should proceed with modest expectations, 708 Kulbhushan Balooni et al. and an eye for the incentives facing local elites and the implementing and facilitating State actors. We duly acknowledge the support of Rajesh Bhardwaj for providing field assistance. We are also thankful to Late Shri Uma Shanker Vashisht and Rajbir Singh Bondwal for providing invaluable support for this study. Last but not the least, we sincerely thank Paul Robbins, Moeko Saito-Jensen and three anonymous reviewers for providing insightful comments on an earlier version of this work. Any errors are the responsibility of the authors alone. " In all societies – from societies that are very meagrely developed and have barely attained the dawnings of civilisation, down to the most advanced and powerful societies – two classes of people appear – a class that rules and a class that is ruled. " Gaetano Mosca (1939, 50)