Elite capture and forest governance in India
type: CreativeWork
description: Elite capture is a persistent problem in forest governance. Influential and powerful elites often capture a major portion of forest-based benefits due to their well-entrenched structural domination of forest governance. The problem is chronic and many scholars have held it responsible for the continuous failure of the state efforts to manage forests equitably and sustainably. They have blamed it for inequitable outcomes. The representation of the state as an incapable entity in countering the elite domination has encouraged various actors to promote the alternative institutional arrangements. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is one of such initiatives that call for an active involvement of communities in forest governance through arrangements that do not include only government. CBNRM has been implemented in many countries through decentralization reforms mostly driven by international donors, non-governmental organizations, fiscal compulsions of central governments and the demands of the civil society and social movements. CBNRM is considered as an antidote to the persistent problem of elite capture. By empowering communities to make plans, and implement them, CBNRM aims at tackling the influence and the domination of the elites over the decision-making processes. However, the evidence does not support this contention. Many studies have shown that CBNRM is highly prone to elite capture. Overwhelming evidence from several studies have shown that CBNRM ignores issues of power relations favoring elites. The poor fail to participate effectively in the participatory programs due to structural barriers and, therefore, fail to shape the decisions on forest resources on which their own livelihoods depend. CBNRM has largely failed in breaking the tight inter-locking and multifaceted control of the elites over forest-related decisions. The continuous failure of forest governance to tackle elite capture motivates the question: “What governance mechanisms re…
abstract: Elite capture is a persistent problem in forest governance. Influential and powerful elites often capture a major portion of forest-based benefits due to their well-entrenched structural domination of forest governance. The problem is chronic and many scholars have held it responsible for the continuous failure of the state efforts to manage forests equitably and sustainably. They have blamed it for inequitable outcomes. The representation of the state as an incapable entity in countering the elite domination has encouraged various actors to promote the alternative institutional arrangements. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is one of such initiatives that call for an active involvement of communities in forest governance through arrangements that do not include only government. CBNRM has been implemented in many countries through decentralization reforms mostly driven by international donors, non-governmental organizations, fiscal compulsions of central governments and the demands of the civil society and social movements. CBNRM is considered as an antidote to the persistent problem of elite capture. By empowering communities to make plans, and implement them, CBNRM aims at tackling the influence and the domination of the elites over the decision-making processes. However, the evidence does not support this contention. Many studies have shown that CBNRM is highly prone to elite capture. Overwhelming evidence from several studies have shown that CBNRM ignores issues of power relations favoring elites. The poor fail to participate effectively in the participatory programs due to structural barriers and, therefore, fail to shape the decisions on forest resources on which their own livelihoods depend. CBNRM has largely failed in breaking the tight inter-locking and multifaceted control of the elites over forest-related decisions. The continuous failure of forest governance to tackle elite capture motivates the question: “What governance mechanisms re…
author: Rana, Pushpendra
language: en
keywords: Forest governance, elite capture, decentralization, autonomous counter power, natural resource management, spatial econometrics, matching methods
date published: 2014-05-30T16:48:11Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:38Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49520