In this paper, we revisit the utility of the concepts of path dependence and interdependence for the analysis of participatory environmental governance. We investigate the evolution of environmental governance in the Romanian Danube delta, and, starting from an observation of problematic citizen participation, demonstrate how specific patterns of path-and interdependence shaped both the present situation and the reform options. For the delta, it is argued that direct citizen participation, without working on other institutions, would not solve the problems observed, but would rather reinforce unwanted informal institutions (cf Ledeneva, 2005). Theoretically, we utilize a combination of path dependence theory and social systems theory, allowing for a grasp of both rigidity and flexibility in the evolution of governance systems. Empirically, expert and lay interviews, long term observation, and a analyses of policy documents underpin our analyses.
This article investigates the process of social forgetting by relating it to the disintegration of social and spatial networks. Looking at the case of Sulina, a small town on the eastern edge of the Romanian Danube Delta, we analyze how the unraveling of networks caused a process of social forgetting with margin-specific features, a fundamental restructuring of social memory and social identities. An important focus of our investigation is the connection between social memory and spatial planning, as a coordinated effort to look forwards. While forgetting as such is seen as a positive process, constitutive of memory, its local characteristics can create problems, for example, for cooperation and planning. Theoretically, this article adopts a systems theoretical framework, incorporating notions derived from anthropology and geography. Social memory is defined as a continuous process of selection, carried out in various specialized subsystems. Concepts of social identity and network are found to be essential in a localized analysis of social memory. Concluding, we argue that local characteristics of social memory can impede the articulation of viable spatial planning strategies.
Key wordssocial forgetting; social memory; social systems theory; spatial planning Forgotten by the world and forgetting the world. (Jan Morris, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere, 2001)Forgetting is a crucial condition of remembering. Only by forgetting most of the past, by discarding and confl ating previous experiences, can we orient ourselves to the
This paper focuses on local constructions of 'nature' in governance processes, and the importance of historical and institutional contexts for their genesis and functioning. Through extensive field study in the Romanian Danube Delta, it is demonstrated that the origin and distribution
of certain concepts can be credited to a history of conflicts over land and resource use. Considering the implications for participatory natural resource governance, we argue that this capacity of the governance context to produce and transform concepts of nature, poses real challenges. To
these challenges can be added legacies of disempowerment and marginalisation, evident in local inhabitants' images and concepts of nature, which we seek to understand by developing a theory of traumatic nature.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.