Democracy on the Commons: Political Competition and Local Cooperation for Natural
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Democracy on the Commons: Political Competition and Local Cooperation for Natural Resource Management in India by Ashwini Chhatre Department of Political Science Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Margaret McKean, Supervisor ___________________________ Karen Remmer ___________________________ Randall Kramer ___________________________ Steven Wilkinson Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2007 ABSTRACT Democracy on the Commons: Political Competition and Local Cooperation for Natural Resource Management in India by Ashwini Chhatre Department of Political Science Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Margaret McKean, Supervisor ___________________________ Karen Remmer ___________________________ Randall Kramer ___________________________ Steven Wilkinson An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2007 Copyright by Ashwini Chhatre 2007 Abstract This dissertation explores the effects of democratic competition among political parties in India on natural resources and the ability of local communities to cooperate for natural resource management. A significant number of decentralization policies in developing countries depend for their success on local collective action for the provision of public goods. At the same time, democratization generates multiple impulses in society, and understanding its effects on the prospects for local cooperation is important for explaining the variation in success of decentralization policies for natural resource management. I use historical and ethnographic data to understand the influence of political competition on natural resource outcomes and local collective action. The descriptive analysis draws upon theoretical and empirical literatures on political competition, collective action, and property rights, and is used as the basis for generating hypotheses as well as specifying context-specific measurements of the relevant variables for statistical analysis. I test the hypotheses on two sets of dependent variables – local cooperation and forest condition – and three datasets covering community-based irrigation and forest management systems, co-management institutions for irrigation, soil conservation, and forest management, as well as state-managed forests as the null category without decentralized management. iv The findings show that an inclusive pattern of political mobilization and party competition have increased the salience of environment and forests in the public domain and democratic politics, with a positive effect on resource outcomes. Further, natural resources are better managed by decentralized institutions, compared to state management. However, communities located in highly competitive electoral districts find it significantly more difficult to cooperate due to interference from political parties. Moreover, communities that are heterogeneous along the salient issue dimension in democratic politics are the worst affected. On the other hand, better representation of sub-group interests in community affairs, prevalence of democratic practices, and linkages of community leaders to multiple political parties are associated with higher levels of local cooperation. In conclusion, the findings demonstrate that communities are better at natural resource management than state agencies, but the impulses generated by democratization can constrain the ability of local communities to manage natural resources. v Contents Abstract .........................................................................................................................................iv List of Tables.............................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................x 1. Local cooperation in a competitive political context............................................................1 1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................1 1.2 Theory and Evidence: Local cooperation in a changing political context .....9 1.3 Operational Hypotheses: Relationships among political competition, local cooperation, and resource outcomes ...................................................................................21 1.4 Testing the hypotheses: Data, research location and research design .........29 2. Political economy of natural resources in the western Himalayas..................................48 2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................48 2.2 Colonial Influences on Forests...........................................................................50 2.3 Post-colonial Developments...............................................................................64 2.4 Conclusion: Forests and politics........................................................................84 3. Democratic politics and forest cover change in the Himalayas .......................................88 3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................88 3.2 Democracy, Development, and Environment in Himachal Pradesh...........96 3.3 Forest Cover Change: Hypotheses and data .................................................109 3.4 Forest Cover Change: Findings and analysis ................................................130 3.5 Conclusions: Democracy, Decentralization, and Environment ..................138 vi 4. Competition and cooperation in decentralized forest management .............................140 4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................140 4.2 Patterns of competition and cooperation .......................................................143 4.3 Competition and Cooperation: Hypotheses and data..................................164 4.4 Competition and Cooperation: Findings and analysis.................................179 4.5 Conclusions: Competition and cooperation ..................................................192 5. Political Competition and Local Autonomy in Cooperation..........................................195 5.1 Introduction........................................................................................................195 5.2 Traditional systems in transition: Community and resource management in Himachal Pradesh ................................................................................................................200 5.3 Political Competition and Local Autonomy: Hypotheses and data...........212 5.4 Political Competition and Local Autonomy: Findings and analysis..........220 5.5 Conditional effects of variables in Generalized Linear Models..................226 5.6 Conclusions: Co-management and cooperation ...........................................239 6. Conclusion: Democracy on the Commons ........................................................................244 6.1 Political Competition, Local Cooperation, and Natural Resources............246 6.2 Democracy and Decentralization: Beyond Himachal Pradesh and Natural Resources ...............................................................................................................................255 References ..................................................................................................................................259 Biography...................................................................................................................................273 vii List of Tables Table 3.1 Himachal Pradesh: Selected Indicators of Social Development, 1998-99...........97 Table 3.2 Himachal Pradesh and Haryana Compared ..........................................................99 Table 3.3 Himachal Pradesh: Towards a 2-party system ....................................................103 Table 3.4 Himachal Pradesh: Gender-related Indicators.....................................................106 Table 3.5 Improvement in Forest Cover: Data Description.................................................116 Table 3.6 Improvement in Forest Cover: Data Summaries .................................................118 Table 3.7 Regression Diagnostics............................................................................................131 Table 3.8 Regression Results: Change in Forest Condition.................................................133 Table 4.1 Data Description.......................................................................................................166 Table 4.2 Data Summaries .......................................................................................................169 Table 4.3 Partitoning the Variance..........................................................................................180 Table 4.4 Regression Results....................................................................................................182 Table 5.1 Nature of Interactions..............................................................................................198