Equality and Participation
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Equality and Participation Distribution of Outcomes in Participatory Processes for Managing Natural Resources Alba Mohedano Roldán Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science at Stockholm University to be publicly defended on Friday 1 June 2018 at 13.00 in Hörsal 9, hus D, Universitetsvägen 10 D. Abstract Social justice has become an intrinsic feature of sustainable development. One of the ways in which it is expected we will reach more just and sustainable societies is through stakeholder participation in natural resource management. However, entrenched inequalities among participants have generated scepticism about the potential of participation to improve social justice and, until now, the literature has not provided sufficient evidence to disentangle such contradictory views. Approaching social justice from the viewpoint of equality, this dissertation contributes to the debate by studying how the socio-political structure in which participation is embedded affects how far participation outcomes respect equality. The political regime, the distribution of power at the local level, and the characteristics of the participatory process are conceived as embodiments of such socio-political structure. The impact of these three structural factors on outcome equality is studied in biosphere reserves, areas designated by UNESCO as sites for experimenting with sustainable development strategies through stakeholder participation. Survey panel data from biosphere reserve managers and interview data with stakeholders are used in large-n, medium-n, and small-n analyses to explore to what extent, and under which circumstances, participation can lead to equal outcomes. The results suggest that, although in nondemocratic states participation has more difficulty promoting equal outcomes than in democratic states, and that although participation leads to generally unequal outcomes in unequal contexts, some participation outcomes can approach an egalitarian ideal even in these unexpected settings. The results suggest as well that inclusiveness and moderate empowerment of participants can contribute to equal outcomes. In short, participation has the potential to contribute to equality, but such potential varies across outcomes, contexts, and processes. Keywords: equality; participation; natural resource management; stakeholder; political regime; power inequality; participation outcomes; biosphere reserve. Stockholm 2018 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-155199 ISBN 978-91-7797-296-9 ISBN 978-91-7797-297-6 ISSN 0346-6620 Department of Political Science Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm EQUALITY AND PARTICIPATION Alba Mohedano Roldán Equality and Participation Distribution of Outcomes in Participatory Processes for Managing Natural Resources Alba Mohedano Roldán ©Alba Mohedano Roldán, Stockholm University 2018 ISBN print 978-91-7797-296-9 ISBN PDF 978-91-7797-297-6 ISSN 0346-6620 Cover art: Ida Brogren, www.vres.se. Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2018 Distributor: Department of Political Science, Stockholm University Abstracts of the articles Paper 1. Understanding Participation Equality in Natural Resource Management: Theory and Research Strategies Alba Mohedano Roldán Submitted to: Conservation and Society (under review) Equality has become a central concern of the research on participatory natural resource management (NRM). But discussions of the impact of inequality on NRM participation and of the impact of NRM participation on equality fail to address core questions of equality in and through participation: how can we define equality in participatory NRM processes and in their outcomes? And how can we study it empirically? Based on theories of justice and participatory democracy, this essay reflects on the conceptualisations of equality implied in the NRM literature on participation processes and on their outcomes. By analysing uses of equality in the NRM literature through the lens of theories of justice and participatory democracy, the paper aims to advance a deeper understanding of equality in this context. Moreover, it provides theoretically grounded suggestions for the empirical study of equality in NRM participatory processes and in their outcomes. Keywords: participation; equality; natural resource management; empowered participatory governance Paper 2. Political Regime and Learning Outcomes of Stakeholder Participation: Cross-National Study of 81 Biosphere Reserves1 Alba Mohedano Roldán Published in: Sustainability, 9 (4): 553. Stakeholder participation in natural resource management has spread widely, even to nondemocracies, driven by expectations of beneficial outcomes such 1 In the title, abstract, and methodology section of the paper it is stated that the n of the study is 81, with 26 biosphere reserves in nondemocracies, and 35 countries. The n in the study when controls are applied is 107, with 31 biosphere reserves in nondemocracies, and 42 countries. Without controls the n is 110, with 32 biosphere reserves in nondemocracies, and 44 countries. i as multidirectional learning. However, can we expect participation to be equally effective in achieving multidirectional learning in democracies and nondemocracies? Unsurprisingly, previous studies indicate the relevance of power distribution for learning. Higher levels of repression and accumulation of political capital in nondemocracies should limit the distribution of power across stakeholders. Yet, the relationship between political regime, participation, and learning has rarely been studied empirically. I address this gap by analysing multidirectional learning in stakeholder participation in 81 Man and the Biosphere reserves across 35 countries using ordinary least squares regression, Firth logistic regression, and heat maps. The results suggest that the amount of stakeholders sharing knowledge and learning is similar in both regimes. However, a closer analysis reveals differences in the impact different stakeholders have on the learning process. More concretely, local actors share knowledge more often and have a greater impact on stakeholders’ learning in democracies, while state actors display similar behavior across regimes in terms of learning and sharing knowledge. Thus, although there are notable similarities across regimes, multidirectional learning through stakeholder participation is influenced by the political context. Keywords: biosphere reserve; political regime; learning; participation; stakeholder; natural resource management Paper 3. How Power and Participation Impact Outcome Equality of Management with Stakeholders: The Distribution of Status, Costs, and Benefits in Sumaco and Huascarán Biosphere Reserves Alba Mohedano Roldán Submitted to: Environmental Management Participation is often advocated as a tool to increase justice in the management of natural resources. However, the empirical evidence supporting this hypothesis is still unclear. Moreover, the literature’s ambiguous conceptualisation of justice has contributed to clouding the impact of participation on justice. Approaching justice as equality and using interview data from 57 stakeholders in the biosphere reserves of Sumaco (Ecuador) and Huascarán (Peru), this paper explores equality in immaterial (status) and material (costs and benefits) outcomes of three participatory processes. The paper reduces ambiguity by operationalising equality based on Rawls’s conception of justice, according to which inequalities should benefit disadvantaged groups. It also defines equality as levelling up status among vulnerable groups to equalise status across actors. The distribution of ii outcomes is explored in relation to the power each participant had and to how equal participation was. Results indicate that power inequalities are reproduced in material and immaterial outcomes of participation, but do not fully shape them. Differences in how equal participation was, mainly in how inclusive executive organs of participatory bodies were, proved significant for the improvement of the status of vulnerable groups. By employing a more precise definition of equality than previous studies, the paper offers new insights into how different types of outcomes are impacted by power and participation and how far such outcomes are from an egalitarian ideal. Keywords: natural resource management; participation; equality; power inequality; biosphere reserve; stakeholder Paper 4. Does Stakeholder Participation Increase the Legitimacy of Nature Reserves in Local Communities? Evidence from 92 Biosphere Reserves in 36 Countries Alba Mohedano Roldán, Andreas Duit, Lisen Schultz Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning (under review) The aim of this paper is to investigate if stakeholder participation increases the legitimacy of nature reserves in the surrounding community. Most previous studies of the effects of stakeholder participation in natural resource management have relied on case studies, but in this paper we use a combination of panel data from a two-wave survey (2008 and 2013) of 92 Biosphere Reserves (BRs) in 36 countries and semi-structured interview data from 65 stakeholder respondents in a sub-sample of 10 BRs to systematically investigate the effects of stakeholder participation on the legitimacy of the natural reserve in the local community. The data cover four levels of stakeholder participation: 1) Information, 2) Implementation, 3) Involvement and 4) Representation. These levels roughly correspond to rungs on Arnstein’s