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From shiny shoes to muddy reality: understanding how meso-state actors negotiate the implementation gap in participatory forest management

Kairu, Anne; Upton, Caroline; Huxham, Mark; Kotut, Kiplagat; Mbeche, Robert; Kairo, James

Authors

Anne Kairu

Caroline Upton

Kiplagat Kotut

Robert Mbeche

James Kairo



Abstract

Recent research on participatory forest management (PFM) in the global south has highlighted the existence of a widespread “implementation gap” between the ambitious intent enshrined in legislation and the often partial, disappointing rollout of devolved forest governance on the ground. Here, through an ethnographic case study of forest officers (FOs) in Kenya, we draw on a framework of critical institutionalism to examine how key meso-level actors, or “interface bureaucrats,” negotiate and challenge this implementation gap in everyday forest governance. We go beyond consideration of institutional bricolage in isolation or as an aggregate category, to analyze how bricolage as aggregation, alteration, and/or articulation is variously driven, shaped, and constrained by FOs’ multiple accountabilities and agency. Our analysis highlights the locally specific, contingent, and mutually reinforcing nature of accountability, agency and bricolage, and their explanatory power in relation to the performance and nature of “actually existing” PFM.

Citation

Kairu, A., Upton, C., Huxham, M., Kotut, K., Mbeche, R., & Kairo, J. (2018). From shiny shoes to muddy reality: understanding how meso-state actors negotiate the implementation gap in participatory forest management. Society and Natural Resources, 31(1), 74-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1382628

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 21, 2017
Online Publication Date Nov 16, 2017
Publication Date Jan 2, 2018
Deposit Date Aug 29, 2017
Publicly Available Date Nov 20, 2017
Journal Society and Natural Resources
Print ISSN 0894-1920
Electronic ISSN 1521-0723
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 31
Issue 1
Pages 74-88
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2017.1382628
Keywords Accountability; agency; bricolage; critical institutionalism; ethnography; Kenya
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/978437
Contract Date Nov 20, 2017

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