Negotiating devolution: Community conflict, structural power, and local forest management in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Abstract

The dissertation examines how state agrarian policies and programs affect local governance and communal forest management in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The study operates at two levels. First, it looks at how changes to agrarian law instituted in 1992 impact decision-making in two communities (<italic>ejidos </italic>) and an associated support organization. Second, it explores how local political practices and organizational forms developed in response to different state-sponsored forest management regimes over a thirty-five year period. Common property management in Quintana Roo is deeply embedded in local political histories of state formation. Regarding institutional change, most analyses predicted that the 1992 reforms would threaten collective land tenure security, encourage subdivision within communities, reduce the quality of forestry technical services, and decrease availability of financial support. In Quintana Roo, large <italic> ejidos</italic> and forest commons remain intact, most forestry communities have subdivided, deregulation of technical services has decreased quality, and availability of financial resources has increased. Two case studies suggest that, despite internal reorganization, forest management practices remain largely unchanged. In contrast, local governance practices have changed significantly under subgroups. Decision-making authority has shifted from an elected committee to a council of work group leaders. Community assemblies rarely gather to oversee local development. More community members participate in forest management. The distribution of timber profits is more equitable. Sub-groups require increased coordination and cooperation. Regarding state formation, new state policies and programs intersect with local political histories in complex ways. They do not produce simple linear effects such as regime breakdown or community collapse. The persistence of political practices and organizational forms represent a type of structural power that impacts local governance and forest management. Internal conflict, elite domination, petty corruption, informal lending, and free-riding persist despite institutional change. In combination, these political practices significantly limit but do not undermine communal forest management. In applied terms, this analysis shows that numerous attempts to restructure community forestry regimes in Quintana Roo have failed because they have not confronted those tacitly legitimate, informal practices that impede effective rule enforcement, conflict resolution, and fair distribution of costs and benefits.