In the 1990s, Colombia decentralised politics and passed multicultural reforms as part of wider strategies to strengthen the state. Multiculturalism produced a complex institutional environment marked by jurisdictional overlap and legal plurality. The literature on Colombia's multiculturalism confirms that violence, indigenous rights abuses and the lack of enabling legislation on indigenous territorial entities limited ethno-political autonomy and instead enhanced the capacity of the state to transform indigenous identity and bureaucratise local decision-making practices. However, some indigenous authorities used the new institutions to take control of communal matters, changing local governments along the way. The better-known case of indigenous self-government is that of the Nasa people in Cauca, characterised by the capture of local institutions to advance ethnic rights. In my study of the Embera Chamí of Karmata Rúa (Antioquia) I argue that they represent an alternative approach centred on institutional embeddedness, or the repetition of ethnic autonomy rules by multiple layers of government.

Armed conflicts pose a serious and potentially long-term threat to institutions, societies and environments across the world. This study focuses on the small mountainous country of Nepal, which has experienced high levels of armed conflict for many years. This paper analyses the relationship between local forest institutions, institutional embeddedness and forest condition under conditions of active armed conflict. Seven community forest user groups with similar forest governance structure were examined, located in similar biophysical and ecological zones, but experiencing different degrees of conflict. Those forest user groups facing severe armed conflict showed a decline in institutional arrangements but improvements in characteristics of institutional embeddedness, such as trust and reciprocity, whereas the forest user groups in low conflict environments had more stable institutional arrangements and stable embeddedness characteristics. Both types of locations showed an increase in forest density. These results emphasize the capacity of local institutions to organize and cooperate even in extremely vulnerable situations, building trust and reciprocity for sustainable forest use and management.