Reinventing institutions : Bricolage and the social embeddedness of natural resource management

Cleaver, Frances (2003) Reinventing institutions : Bricolage and the social embeddedness of natural resource management. In: Securing Land Rights in Africa :. Taylor and Francis, pp. 11-30. ISBN 9780203045886

Abstract

This study challenges the oversimplified way in which abstract and bureaucratic 'design principles' derived from resource management literature are translated into development policy and practice, in pursuit of robust and enduring institutions. Drawing on research in the Usangu Basin, Tanzania, it explores the socially embedded nature of institutions for common property resource management and collective action. The concept of 'institutional bricolage' is outlined; a process by which people consciously and unconsciously draw on existing social and cultural arrangements to shape institutions in response to changing situations. Contrary to much theory, this study shows that institutions formed through bricolage are a dynamic mixture of the 'modern' and 'traditional', 'formal' and 'informal'.