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Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources

Institutional Choice and Discretionary Power Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Beyond Structural Adjustment The Institutional Context of African Development

Abstract

Researchers, development agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world are promoting greater local public participation in the use and maintenance of forests, pasture lands, wildlife, and fisheries in order to improve local development and natural resource management.1 Under the rubric of “decentralization,” governments across the developing world are also transferring management responsibilities and powers from central government to a variety of local institutions (see Dillinger 1994:8, Crook and Manor 1998; UNCDF, 2000:5–11; World Bank 2000; Ribot 1999a:51; Fisher 1991). These reforms aim to increase popular participation to promote more equitable and efficient forms of local management and development. Such decentralizations across Africa are re-shaping the local institutions that manage natural resource, promising to increase participation in ways that will profoundly effect who manages, uses, and benefits from these resources.

Correspondence to Jesse C. Ribot, Senior Associate, Institutions and Governance Program, World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, N.E., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20002 USA, JesseR@WRI.org.

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  1. Jesse C. Ribot
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Nicolas Van De Walle Nicole Ball Vijaya Ramachandran

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© 2003 Nicolas van de Walle, Nicole Ball, and Vijaya Ramachandran

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Ribot, J.C. (2003). Democratic Decentralization of Natural Resources. In: Van De Walle, N., Ball, N., Ramachandran, V. (eds) Beyond Structural Adjustment The Institutional Context of African Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981288_6

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