Evolution and diversity of institutions: Using institutional grammar to analyze governance changes in traditional crop-livestock systems

Abstract

Traditional mixed crop-livestock systems face increased social and environmental uncertainties that arise from both endogenous (i.e., socio-demographics) and exogenous drivers of change (i.e., policy interventions). Adaptations are thus needed for their long-term continuity. The Institutional Analysis and Development Framework’s rules typology and the Institutional Grammar are used here to analyze institutional diversity in relation to the use of natural resources and temporal changes in institutions. We used data obtained from qualitative interviews with local farmers within communities in a semiarid area in Spain. Our objective was to analyze the institutional arrangements used over the last few decades relative to sharing common resources (pastures and water) and maintaining public infrastructures. Results show great diversity in institutional arrangements in the farming communities studied, associated mainly with the type of property rights of pastures (communal, public, private) and the level of collective actions needed in response to endogenous and exogenous drivers of change. This study allows us to propose a robust methodological approach to qualitatively analyze institutional arrangements associated with the use of natural resources in farming systems, and to discuss how institutions adapt to policy changes and to new social and environmental realities.

Keywords

• Collective-action
• common-pool resources
• institutional diversity
• institutional evolution
• pasture management
• social dilemma