Analyzing the politics of natural resources: from theories of property rights to institutional analysis and beyond

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511760242.006

4 - Analyzing the politics of natural resources: from theories of property rights to institutional analysis and beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Edited by

Eric Alden Smith and

Ismael Vaccaro: Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Eric Alden Smith: Affiliation:
University of Washington
Shankar Aswani: Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara

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Summary

Tools for institutional and political analysis

How do patterns of socioeconomic and political organization affect access to, control over, and the sustainability of natural resources? How does access to and control over natural resources influence livelihoods, inequality, and political relationships? Who controls natural resources? What accounts for the extent and form of cooperation and conflict over natural resources? Can patterns of natural resource access and control be altered to promote better social, economic, political, and ecological outcomes? Scholars concerned with these and related questions about natural resources have developed tools for institutional and political analysis. The scope of this chapter does not allow a comprehensive review of these approaches. The focus is on economic theories of property rights, the new institutionalism, and forms of political analysis concerned with cooperation, contestation, and power.

Property rights

Property rights define a variety of rights and assign them to particular actors or categories of actors. Examples include rights of access, withdrawal, management, exclusion, and alienation. Over the years, scholars have developed and revised typologies of property rights and distinguished between the nature of the property rights, the identity of the holder of property rights, and the characteristics of the resource subject to property rights. Research on property rights seeks to understand the emergence and development of property rights and how various allocations of property rights influence the efficiency and sustainability of natural resource use.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Environmental Social Sciences
Methods and Research Design
, pp. 57 - 79

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760242.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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