| This dissertation has contributed towards the understanding of decentralized forest management by examining in comparative perspective, the role of social capital in the success or failure of these decentralization efforts. In addition, my objective has been to analyze the links among decentralization, development, and forest conservation. I have done so through a focus on three questions. (1) How is decentralization in forest management influenced by the level of social capital in the communities in which they operate? This question allowed us to relate interaction among people and networks between them, to the efficient functioning of organizations. This is the operational level. (2) What is the importance of linkages between organizations in the two domains of forest management and development planning for the functioning of forest-related committees? The important fact here is that the specialized forest-related committees are nested within more generalized development planning committees. This question allowed us to explore and analyze whether the de facto linkages between the two bodies are beneficial to the smaller and more specialized organization. This is the complementary level. (3) How does the role of the forest department bureaucracy affect the performance of the decentralized forest management bodies? This question helped us move from the operational level to the collective choice level (Ostrom 1990). Many studies show that the operational rules are important to overcome collective action problems (Agrawal 1998; Gibson et al 1999; Varughese 1998). However, there has been very little inquiry into the collective choice level. The third question attempted to do precisely this.; My findings demonstrated that the variables at the operational level (social capital indicators), at the complementary level (linkage variables) and at the collective choice level (variables reflecting the role of the forest department), are crucial in explaining the rules-in-use in the various forest committees. Further, the impact of these variables on forest change is mediated through their influence on rules-in-use.; The research was carried out in Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts in North Bengal, India. While the case studies were supported by a grant from the Workshop in Policy Analysis and Political Theory, Indiana University, Bloomington, the survey of the forest committees was supported by grants from Winrock International and the National Science Foundation. |
