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Legal pluralism, ideology, and institutional change: the evolution of institutions for coastal resource governance in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2024

Hudu Banikoi Open the ORCID record for Hudu Banikoi [Opens in a new window]
Hudu Banikoi*
Affiliation:
Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Bremen, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Hudu Banikoi; Email: hudu.banikoi@leibniz-zmt.de
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Abstract

Co-management regimes are institutional innovations that hold the promise of achieving sustainable common-pool resource governance. However, the transition to such institutional regimes in coastal resource systems has faced challenges in many countries. This article examines the processes and outcomes of such institutional changes in coastal fisheries in Ghana, where the transition to co-management was unsuccessful. Combining theoretical perspectives from legal pluralism in legal anthropology and ideational theories of institutional change within institutional economics, the paper uses process tracing to examine the role of ideology and historical institutional dynamics of the resource context in the institutionalization and failure of co-management arrangements for governing coastal fisheries. The study finds that ideological conflicts and historical legacies of legal pluralism hindered the practice and outcomes of coastal fisheries co-management in Ghana. The article argues for particular attention to the historical institutional dimensions and underlying worldviews of the resource context in institutional interventions for sustainability in coastal resource systems.

Keywords

Co-managementcommon-pool resourcesenvironmental governanceideational changeprocess tracing
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 20 , 2024 , e32
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Millennium Economics Ltd.

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