Abstract
This presentation talks about the development of critical institutional thinking and the concept of institutional bricolage during my research. Critical institutionalism (CI) is a contemporary body of thought that explores how institutions dynamically mediate relationships between people, natural resources and society. Critical institutional approaches have potentially much to offer natural resource governance studies, particularly through the explanatory power of the concept of bricolage for better understanding institutional change. Together with Frances Cleaver, I have been working with and working on critical institutional thinking in research in Papua New Guinea, the Bolivian and Ecuadorian Amazon and the Netherlands. This presentation defines key themes of critical institutionalism, outline the concept of institutional bricolage and identity some key challenges facing this school of thought.
Brief Bio:
Jessica de Koning is a lecturer at Van Hall Larenstein in Leeuwarden. She teaches policy issues related to marine management. Her work focuses on local governance processes related to issues of natural resources, sustainability and climate change. She looks at how policies impact people, their daily practices and their place. How policies “travel” from their institute to the daily reality and how they are transformed in the process. In others, she is interested in these dynamic processes where policy can lead to unexpected outcomes and governance is fluid. She has studied these issues related to forest management in the Amazon of Bolivia and Ecuador, nature governance in Europe, ecotourism in Papua New Guinea and at global policy platforms such as the climate change conventions. Recently, she is looking at coastal communities and how they manage themselves in relation to climate change and marine policies. She holds a PhD. on forest governance in the Amazon (Wageningen University, 2010). She also has a MSc. in policy and organization (Utrecht University, 2006) and a BSc and MSc in rural development sociology (Wageningen University, 2001). In her free time, she loves to be outdoors: walking, running and sailing.
