Elite capture through information distortion: A theoretical essay

Platteau, Jean‐Philippe; Somville, Vincent; Wahhaj, Zaki

doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2013.10.002

Cited by 30 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Among its causes, literature indicates the asymmetry of power as a force that makes the preferences of the elites prevail (Platteau and Somville, 2014). But geographic and social factors exist to reinforce it; a review of nearly 500 studies on the theme of participative development and decentralization shows that the capture tends to be higher in the centers of remote communities, with low level of literacy and significant inequity regarding income, gender, race, or cast (Mansuri and Rao, 2013:5).…”

Section: The Concept Of Capture and Elite Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Estrategias de apropiación y desviación de recursos en el Sistema Municipal de Planeación de Santiago de Cali

2017

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From some elements that characterize an elite capture mechanism mentioned in literature, this article compares five resource appropriation strategies carried out by certain players from the participative Municipal Planning System (MPS) from Colombia's third largest municipality between 1998 and 2008. By using mixed methods and a utilization-focused evaluation design, the MPS players and their partnerships were approached by which their availing of informational asymmetries restricted participation and biased the use of resources. The research identified as the basic cause of the capture the disarticulation of the MPS into three subsystems: the community, instances of local participation, and the Planning Department. The article also describes the series of institutional adjustments carried out between 2012 and 2015 (monitoring, e-voting) seeking to minimize capture possibilities. Keywords: participative local planning; social mechanisms; evaluation; elite capture; informational asymmetries. Estratégias de apropriação e desvio de recursos no Sistema Municipal de Planejamento de Santiago de CaliA partir de alguns elementos que caracterizam o mecanismo de captura de elite mencionado na literatura, este artigo compara cinco estratégias de apropriação de recursos feitas por certos atores do Sistema Municipal de Planejamento (SMP) participativo, numa cidade colombiana entre 1998 e 2008. A partir de uma abordagem de avaliação com foco no uso foram abordados os atores do SMP e as parcerias, aproveitando assimetrias de informação, restringiram a participação e enviesaram o uso de recursos territoriais. A pesquisa identificou como a causa básica da captura, o desmantelamento do SMP em três subsistemas: a comunidade, as instâncias de participação local e o Departamento Municipal de Planejamento. O artigo também descreve os ajustes institucionais desenvolvidos entre 2012 e 2015 (monitoração, voto eletrônico), buscando reduzir as possibilidades de captura. Palavras-chave: planejamento local participativo; mecanismos sociais; avaliação; captura de elite; assimetrias de informação. Estrategias de apropiación y desviación de recursos en el Sistema Municipal de Planeación de Santiago de CaliA partir de algunos elementos que caracterizan un mecanismo de captura de élite mencionado en la literatura, este artículo compara cinco estrategias de apropiación de recursos realizadas por ciertos actores del Sistema Municipal de Planeación (SMP) participativa, del tercer municipio de Colombia entre 1998 y 2008. Desde un enfoque de evaluación centrada en el uso, se abordaron los actores del SMP y sus alianzas que, aprovechando asimetrías informacionales, restringieron la participación y sesgaron el uso de los recursos. La investigación identificó como causal básica de la captura, la desarticulación del SMP en tres subsistemas: la comunidad, las instancias de participación local y el Departamento de Planeación. El artículo describe igualmente la serie de ajustes institucionales desarrollados entre 2012 y 2015 (monitoreo, e-voting) buscando m...

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Section: The Concept Of Capture and Elite Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Capture of participation (Platteau and Somville, 2014) xi Personal interests are expressed in light of the deliverables of the project Capture of benefits (Mosse, 2001) Source: Sánchez (2018) from Platteau and Gaspart (2003).…”

Section: Social Practice Conceptualization Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Estrategias de apropiación y desviación de recursos en el Sistema Municipal de Planeación de Santiago de Cali

2017

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“…Furthermore, in the case of the SE, a symmetric information contract can be considered. This approach might be perceived as a simplification of the model of Platteau et al (2014) who describe the relationship between donors and elites. However, in our model, instead of donors, owners of the SE are considered, while managers are defined as a social mission implementers.…”

Section: Principal-agent Compromisementioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Social Enterprises

Szymańska¹,

Jegers²

2016

Ann Public Coop Econ

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The majority of research concentrates exclusively on the objectives of governments, profit entities or non-profit organizations, while a significant number of organizations are hybrids. One form of these hybrids is the social enterprise. This paper theoretically describes social enterprises taking into consideration their main aims. Based on the 'earned income' school of thought, the principal-agent theory and considering the nature of social enterprises' activities we propose the objective functions of their owners (principals) and managers (agents). The maximization problem of the social enterprise is defined as the weighted average of the utilities of two groups of stakeholders who have an influence on the degree of the realization of the social mission and business orientations. We point out the direction which social enterprises should follow in order to obtain the highest value of their objective functions. The desired state for social enterprises should be one in which they reinvest all surpluses in the process of their mission realization and their profit is slightly higher than the required level by the principal's contract.

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“…21 It becomes problematic when 'elites control, shape, or manipulate decision-making processes or institutions in ways that serve their self-interests and priorities, typically resulting in personal gain at the expense of non-elites and local communities'. 22 Local elites are not a homogeneous group; they gain power from a variety of sources, such as 'access to land, family networks, employment status, wealth, educational attainment, political affiliation and standing within a religious organisation'.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Elite Capturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elites are a small group of well-connected and resourceful individuals who 'exert disproportionate influence over collective action'. 8 Platteau and his colleagues suggest that participatory development is 'highly vulnerable to the risk of elite capture', 9 since local elites are in a better position to capitalise on newly created participatory space and to make decisions on behalf of communities. Often dependent on unequal patron-client structures, poor people rarely challenge elite domination, thereby unwittingly reinforcing existing inequalities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges to the elite exclusion–inclusion dichotomy — reconsidering elite capture in community-based natural resource management

Wong

2013

South African Journal of International Affairs

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The community-driven, decentralised approach to natural resource management has reached a crossroads. The good governance agenda in the water, forestry, fishery and biodiversity sectors has generated limited success in achieving pro-poor outcomes. In many cases, local elites are to blame for capturing the benefits from the process of democratising decision-making processes. This paper examines two approaches in the literature which both aim to address elite domination, namely elite exclusion and elite inclusion. The former is a deliberate act to reduce the influence of elites by excluding them from the decision-making process in natural resource management. The latter, in contrast, is a conscious strategy to integrate elites into the use of natural resources in an attempt to redistribute the benefits to poor people via the 'trickle down' effect. This paper argues that the dichotomy of elite inclusion and exclusion is inadequate in understanding the complex local power dynamics in natural resource management. In particular, the binary division fails to address the multiple locations of elites, overlapping institutions and the paradoxes of 'controlled' participatory processes. This paper argues that any strategies to tackle elite capture need to pay attention to the historical, socially embedded and negotiated nature of resource governance arrangements.

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Elite capture through information distortion: A theoretical essay

Cited by 30 publications

References 37 publications

Estrategias de apropiación y desviación de recursos en el Sistema Municipal de Planeación de Santiago de Cali

Estrategias de apropiación y desviación de recursos en el Sistema Municipal de Planeación de Santiago de Cali

Modelling Social Enterprises

Challenges to the elite exclusion–inclusion dichotomy — reconsidering elite capture in community-based natural resource management

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