IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i21p9036-d437530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting the Role of Institutions in Transformative Contexts: Institutional Change and Conflicts

Author

Listed:
  • Dimitrios Zikos

    (International and Development Economics Programme, Faculty of Economics, HTW University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Treskowallee 8, 10318 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

The study of conflicts over natural resources is neither governed by a coherent set of theories nor limited by strict disciplinary boundaries. Rather, it encompasses a multitude of conceptions grounded within a wide array of disciplines and epistemological assumptions concerning the links between institutional change and conflicts, often concluding in contradictory propositions. This article aims at providing conceptual guidance for the special issue, by reviewing institutional research with a particular focus on institutional change and associated conflicts and drawing some implications from transformative settings. More specifically, the paper explores certain propositions and concepts utilised by institutional economists to explain why conflicts persist despite institutional reforms explicitly or implicitly introduced to resolve them. The author revisits diverse cases from different regions to investigate key concepts related to institutional change and its implications on environmental conflicts associated to transformations, complementing this view from a political science perspective. The paper concludes by offering an overview of factors identified as instrumental in understanding the institutional change and conflict–cooperation continuum.

Suggested Citation

  • Dimitrios Zikos, 2020. "Revisiting the Role of Institutions in Transformative Contexts: Institutional Change and Conflicts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9036-:d:437530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9036/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9036/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malcolm Rutherford, 2001. "Institutional Economics: Then and Now," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 173-194, Summer.
    2. Tanja Baerlein & Ulan Kasymov & Dimitrios Zikos, 2015. "Self-Governance and Sustainable Common Pool Resource Management in Kyrgyzstan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, January.
    3. Robert Roßner & Dimitrios Zikos, 2018. "The Role of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity Among Resource Users on Water Governance: Lessons Learnt from an Economic Field Experiment on Irrigation in Uzbekistan," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(03), pages 1-30, July.
    4. Claude Menard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), 2005. "Handbook of New Institutional Economics," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-0-387-25092-2, April.
    5. Andriani, Luca & Sabatini, Fabio, 2015. "Trust and prosocial behaviour in a process of state capacity building: the case of the Palestinian territories1," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 823-846, December.
    6. Crawford, Sue E. S. & Ostrom, Elinor, 1995. "A Grammar of Institutions," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 582-600, September.
    7. Paavola, Jouni, 2007. "Institutions and environmental governance: A reconceptualization," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 93-103, June.
    8. Masahiko Aoki, 2013. "Endogenizing institutions and institutional changes," Chapters, in: Comparative Institutional Analysis, chapter 16, pages 267-297, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Itay Fischhendler, 2015. "The securitization of water discourse: theoretical foundations, research gaps and objectives of the special issue," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 245-255, September.
    10. Geoffrey M. Hodgson, 1998. "The Approach of Institutional Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 166-192, March.
    11. Henry Farrell & Jack Knight, 2003. "Trust, Institutions, and Institutional Change: Industrial Districts and the Social Capital Hypothesis," Politics & Society, , vol. 31(4), pages 537-566, December.
    12. Philip Keefer & Stephen Knack, 2008. "Social Capital, Social Norms and the New Institutional Economics," Springer Books, in: Claude Ménard & Mary M. Shirley (ed.), Handbook of New Institutional Economics, chapter 27, pages 701-725, Springer.
    13. Williamson, Oliver E., 2015. "Ronald Harry Coase: institutional economist and institution builder," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 221-226, June.
    14. Ostrom, Vincent & Tiebout, Charles M. & Warren, Robert, 1961. "The Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas: A Theoretical Inquiry," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(4), pages 831-842, December.
    15. G. Hodgson, 2007. "What Are Institutions?," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 8.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7073 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Partha Dasgupta, 2005. "Economics of Social Capital," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(s1), pages 2-21, August.
    18. Jakub Kronenberg, 2014. "Viable Alternatives for Large‐Scale Unsustainable Projects in Developing Countries: The case of the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(4), pages 253-264, July.
    19. Blyth, Mark & Hodgson, Geoffrey M. & Lewis, Orion & Steinmo, Sven, 2011. "Introduction to the Special Issue on the Evolution of Institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 299-315, September.
    20. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "Goodbye Washington Consensus, Hello Washington Confusion? A Review of the World Bank's Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 973-987, December.
    21. Chatalova, Lioudmila & Djanibekov, Nodir & Gagalyuk, Taras & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2017. "The paradox of water management projects in Central Asia: An institutionalist perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14.
    22. Brousseau, Eric & Garrouste, Pierre & Raynaud, Emmanuel, 2011. "Institutional changes: Alternative theories and consequences for institutional design," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 3-19.
    23. Daniel W. Bromley, 2016. "The 2016 Veblen-Commons Award Recipient: Daniel W. Bromley: Institutional Economics," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 309-325, April.
    24. Kallis, Giorgos, 2011. "In defence of degrowth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 873-880, March.
    25. Daniel W. Bromley, 1989. "Institutional Change and Economic Efficiency," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 735-759, September.
    26. Joseph Horrocks-Taylor, 2018. "Dirty Water, Muddied Politics: Hybridisation of Local and National Opposition to Kumtor Mine, Kyrgyzstan," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-18, April.
    27. Vatn, Arild, 2005. "Rationality, institutions and environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 203-217, November.
    28. Williamson, Oliver E, 1995. "Hierarchies, Markets and Power in the Economy: An Economic Perspective," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 4(1), pages 21-49.
    29. Ostrom, Elinor & Basurto, Xavier, 2011. "Crafting analytical tools to study institutional change," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 317-343, September.
    30. Aslund,Anders, 2013. "How Capitalism Was Built," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107026544, November.
    31. Lan T. Pham & Ilona M. Otto & Dimitrios Zikos, 2019. "Self-Governance and the Effects of Rules in Irrigation Systems: Evidence from Laboratory and Framed Field Experiments in China, India and Vietnam," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 1-28, January.
    32. Kallis, Giorgos, 2007. "When is it coevolution?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 1-6, April.
    33. Arild Vatn, 2005. "Institutions and the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2826.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Serena Sandri & Hussam Hussein & Nooh Alshyab, 2020. "Sustainability of the Energy Sector in Jordan: Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-25, December.
    2. Ana Alicia Dipierri & Dimitrios Zikos, 2020. "The Role of Common-Pool Resources’ Institutional Robustness in a Collective Action Dilemma under Environmental Variations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Maria Budnik & Katrin Grossmann & Christoph Hedtke, 2021. "Migration-Related Conflicts as Drivers of Institutional Change?," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(2), pages 103-112.
    4. Daniel Grandisky Lerner & Helder Marcos Freitas Pereira & Maria Sylvia Macchione Saes & Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira, 2021. "When Unfair Trade Is Also at Home: The Economic Sustainability of Coffee Farms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-14, January.
    5. Maria Urbaniec & Justyna Tomala & Sergio Martinez, 2021. "Measurements and Trends in Technological Eco-Innovation: Evidence from Environment-Related Patents," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Sumana Banerjee & Abhra Chanda & Tuhin Ghosh & Emilie Cremin & Fabrice G. Renaud, 2023. "A Qualitative Assessment of Natural and Anthropogenic Drivers of Risk to Sustainable Livelihoods in the Indian Sundarban," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.
    7. Yuanfeng Liu & Xinyuan He, 2024. "Unraveling the Institutional Logic in China: an Examination of the Institutional Logic Behind Separation of Ownership, Contract Rights, and Operational Rights," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13509-13531, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Roßner & Dimitrios Zikos, 2018. "The Role of Homogeneity and Heterogeneity Among Resource Users on Water Governance: Lessons Learnt from an Economic Field Experiment on Irrigation in Uzbekistan," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(03), pages 1-30, July.
    2. Ana Alicia Dipierri & Dimitrios Zikos, 2020. "The Role of Common-Pool Resources’ Institutional Robustness in a Collective Action Dilemma under Environmental Variations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Tanja Baerlein & Ulan Kasymov & Dimitrios Zikos, 2015. "Self-Governance and Sustainable Common Pool Resource Management in Kyrgyzstan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Nate Kauffman & Kristina Hill, 2021. "Climate Change, Adaptation Planning and Institutional Integration: A Literature Review and Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-28, September.
    5. Jespersen, Kristjan & Gallemore, Caleb, 2018. "The Institutional Work of Payments for Ecosystem Services: Why the Mundane Should Matter," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 507-519.
    6. Yeboah-Assiamah, Emmanuel & Muller, Kobus & Domfeh, Kwame Ameyaw, 2017. "Institutional assessment in natural resource governance: A conceptual overview," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Kimmich, Christian, 2013. "Linking action situations: Coordination, conflicts, and evolution in electricity provision for irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 150-158.
    8. Dimitrios Zikos & Alevgul Sorman & Marisa Lau, 2015. "Beyond water security: asecuritisation and identity in Cyprus," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 309-326, September.
    9. Larry Eubanks & Glenn L. Furton, 2024. "The institutional structure of pollution: large-scale externalities and the common law," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(3), pages 429-450, December.
    10. Paavola, Jouni, 2011. "Reprint of: Sewage Pollution and Institutional and Technological Change in the United States, 1830-1915," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1289-1296, May.
    11. Achim Schlüter & Insa Theesfeld, 2010. "The grammar of institutions: The challenge of distinguishing between strategies, norms, and rules," Rationality and Society, , vol. 22(4), pages 445-475, November.
    12. Devotha B. Mosha & George C. Kajembe & Andrew K. P. R. Tarimo & Paul Vedeld & Gimbaje, E. Mbeyale, 2016. "Performance of Water Management Institutions in Farmer-Managed Irrigation Schemes in Iringa Rural and Kilombero Districts, Tanzania," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(8), pages 430-445, August.
    13. Georgina M. Gómez, 2018. "Why do people want currency? Institutions, habit, and bricolage in an Argentine marketplace," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 413-430, December.
    14. Huang Flora & Yeung Horace, 2018. "Law–Finance–Growth Nexus in the Context of Africa," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 513-555, December.
    15. Foxon, Timothy J., 2011. "A coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2258-2267.
    16. Mike, Károly, 2016. "Merre vezessen a magyar kapitalizmus útja?. Látkép Ronald Coase világítótornyából [Which course for Hungary s capitalism?. A view from Ronald Coase s lighthouse]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 597-614.
    17. Alberto Battistini, 2008. "Micro-Founded Institutions and Macro-Founded Individuals: The Dual Nature of Profit," Department of Economics University of Siena 550, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    18. Adem LEVENT, 2016. "Power, Market and Techno-Structure in John Kenneth Galbraith’s Thought," Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, KSP Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 214-218, June.
    19. Bhatt, Brijesh & Singh, Anoop, 2020. "Stakeholders’ role in distribution loss reduction technology adoption in the Indian electricity sector: An actor-oriented approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    20. Jiřina Jílková & Lenka Slavíková, 2009. "Ekonomie životního prostředí na rozcestí [Economics of the Environmental Protection on the Crossroad]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2009(5), pages 660-676.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9036-:d:437530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.