Abstract

Farmers are often critically important to the success of common-pool resource governance reforms. Nevertheless, their participation in these off-farm reform processes has received limited research attention. This paper investigates farmer participation in state-mandated common-pool resource governance. Using groundwater governance in California as a case study, we show that existing social networks, in combination with asymmetries in resource access within the farming community, and a collective identity framed against central government intervention, explain participation and representation in groundwater governance processes. An important governance paradox has emerged, in which groundwater-dependent users are unequally represented in the very groundwater management agencies that have been developed to protect them. This case sheds light on documented shortcomings of common-pool resource governance reforms and aims to inform the design of future reform processes.

摘要

农民通常对公共池资源治理改革的成功至关重要。然而，他们参与这些非农改革的过程受到了有限的研究关注。本文调查了农民参与国家授权的公共池资源治理的情况。以加利福尼亚州的地下水治理为例，我们显示了现有的社会网络，结合农业社区内部资源获取的不对称性，以及反对中央政府干预的集体身份，可以解释地下水治理过程中的参与和代表性。一个重要的治理悖论已经出现，其中依赖地下水的用户在为保护他们而建立的地下水管理机构中所占的比例不平等。