Past Research Projects

Conflicts and Cooperation in Resource Governance: State Control of the Public Domain and the Role of Local People in Cross-National Perspectives

This study assesses the way in which developing countries create different systems for resource and environmental governance in the process of economic development and the changes that take place in the roles of ordinary people during the creation of these systems. In general, an economic expansion is accompanied by an expansion of the public sector. In democratic countries, civil society development also is stimulated and clashes of interests over public spaces are intensified. Resource and environmental governance can be viewed as a meeting place for interests concerned with public spaces. Many conventional studies, however, lack a comparative analytical perspective. They either confine themselves to analysis of forests, water and other individual resources or they focus on only a single country, ignoring more generalized discussion of the impact on society of the resource governance process. Furthermore, many policy-oriented studies are limited to specific projects. Learning from these flaws, this study examines conflicts of interest over the distribution of basic resources that occupy key positions in the public space. In particular, it seeks to investigate how space for participatory development is created from the macro-political and historical-institutional viewpoints. The aim is to provide a blueprint for future aid involvement in environmental cooperation.