Domestication of international norms for sustainable resource governance: Elite capture in Peru

Abstract

In recent years, international actors have promoted international norms related to sustainable and inclusive resource governance. However, we know little about how such attempts are contested and adapted in domestic reform processes. Drawing on insights from norm diffusion and institutionalist theories, this article traces how first bilateral aid agencies and then OECD have influenced the institutionalisation of a contested land-use planning (LUP) reform in Peru from 1990 until 2017. Based on 145 interviews and written primary sources, we demonstrate that aid agencies have partially empowered policy coalitions (e.g., civil society and subnational actors) in favour of LUP, whereas OECD's interventions have favoured national elites opposed to LUP. In both cases, we argue that by failing to foresee the political resistance among economic actors and national elites, international actors have contributed to the weakening and elite capture of LUP. Hence, our analysis represents a case of weakly institutionalized norms. The findings extend the existing literature on extractive governance by providing a fine-grained analysis of the process in which national elites and societal coalitions domesticate the institutionalisation of international norms for sustainable and inclusive resource governance. Our findings have broader implications for debates about extractive governance as well as policy strategies for promoting institutional change in resource-rich middle-income countries.

Social‐ecological reflexivity of extractive industry governance? The case of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Indonesia

“…The role of global actors and donors, such as international organisations and global NGOs in the implementation of the EITI is an important factor in studying the influence of stakeholders in stimulating reflexivity (see e.g. Gustafsson et al, 2020; Rosser & Kartika, 2019).…”

“…Such kinds of deliberation are expected to not only help countries in producing their EITI reports, but also in deciding on the EITI's scope, triggering public debates and considering broader reform processes (Yanuardi et al, 2021). Some research has shown that global norms such as the EITI affect countries' efforts to improve the quality of extractive industry governance in developing countries (Singh & Camba, 2020; Gustafsson et al, 2020; Macdonald & Nem Singh, 2020), including at the local level (Winanti & Hanif, 2020). Some countries, like Myanmar and the Philippines, even (voluntarily) initiated sub‐national MSGs, which shows that the EITI can become an arena to discuss social and environmental impacts of extractive industries (Vijge et al, 2019; EITI‐Philippines, 2020).…”

Indigenous Peoples and Multiscalar Environmental Governance: The Opening and Closure of Participatory Spaces

“…Translating global norms into laws and policies that are appropriate for and sensitive to national and local contexts is a highly complex and often contested process that could challenge as well as reinforce preexisting injustices. Scholars have used concepts like "domestication" (Gustafsson et al 2020), "localization" (Acharya 2004), and"vernacularization" (Merry 2009) to analyze how domestic political structures and actors condition and reconstruct global norms to fit local conditions. When translating international human rights standards into domestic legislation, states usually interpret and regulate-and thereby change-the original instrument.…”

Evaluation on Humanitarian Intervention in Myanmar: Is It a Placebo Effect?

“…Since there is dependence between countries as a result of globalization, it indirectly causes politics to adopt global norms through international institutions. Domestication also explains local actors or political elites should adopt global norms as sustainable and inclusive resource management for the development of their country (Gustafsson et al, 2020;Heimo, 2019).…”