Revisiting the Role of Institutions in Transformative Contexts: Institutional Change and Conflicts

Dimitrios Zikos
Additional contact information
Dimitrios Zikos: International and Development Economics Programme, Faculty of Economics, HTW University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Treskowallee 8, 10318 Berlin, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: The study of conflicts over natural resources is neither governed by a coherent set of theories nor limited by strict disciplinary boundaries. Rather, it encompasses a multitude of conceptions grounded within a wide array of disciplines and epistemological assumptions concerning the links between institutional change and conflicts, often concluding in contradictory propositions. This article aims at providing conceptual guidance for the special issue, by reviewing institutional research with a particular focus on institutional change and associated conflicts and drawing some implications from transformative settings. More specifically, the paper explores certain propositions and concepts utilised by institutional economists to explain why conflicts persist despite institutional reforms explicitly or implicitly introduced to resolve them. The author revisits diverse cases from different regions to investigate key concepts related to institutional change and its implications on environmental conflicts associated to transformations, complementing this view from a political science perspective. The paper concludes by offering an overview of factors identified as instrumental in understanding the institutional change and conflict–cooperation continuum.

Keywords: institutional change; natural resource conflicts; transformations; institutional economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9036/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9036/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:21:p:9036-:d:437530

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().