Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Ressourcenökonomie

Shaping the scale of natural resource governance

Project Title– Shaping the scale of natural resource governance (Habilitationsproject)

Start: 2009

End: 2012

Project Description: The scale at which resources are governed is socially constructed and contested. It defines spatial fit of resource governance and interplay with other resource governance regimes as well as it defines the role of actors in resource governance. The project aims at a better understanding of the drivers and implications of processes that define the socially constructed scale at which natural resources are governed. Concerning factors shaping the scale of governance the project evaluates a) the explanatory potential of theories of institutional change, b) the changing role of either the state or decentral actors; c) the role of characteristics of physical transactions, and their change, d) the role of specific key actors and their mental models. In regard to the implications of re-scaling it aims to capture changes in a) actor constellations and b) performance of the institutional regime regarding the physical outcome of resource governance. The project aims to evaluate these issues in regard to governance of two natural resources of distinct characteristics: coastal resources and inland water resources. In order to capture these issues it aims to apply novel methodologies in a comparative case study framework applied to Northern (FRG) and Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal).

Researcher: Andreas Thiel

Cooperation Partners: n/a

Advisors: Prof. Dr. Konrad Hagedorn

Funding: submitted

Project Website: -

Publications and Presentations: see personal website of Andreas Thiel