Institutions and power relations and the implementation of community forestry: a case study of Taiwan

Abstract

Abstract Policy implementation outcomes occur through the interplay between the political interests and power relationships of actors within the underlying institutional arrangements. Using the Community Forestry Program in Taiwan as a case study, this study aims to (1) identify how the historical development of forestry policies shapes current institutional arrangements and the political interests of actors, (2) determine how institutional arrangements shape the power relationships and interactions between actors and (3) understand how these interactions produce the policy implementation outcomes. Focusing on eastern Taiwan, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The respondents included officers at different tiers of Taiwan’s forestry authority and the communities that had participated in the policy between 2013 and 2017. Findings from the thematic analysis reveal that the forestry officers and communities have divergent political interests and expectations for the policy, and when disagreements arose, the political interests of forestry officers often prevailed over those of the communities. These findings further exemplify the state’s dominance in Taiwan’s forest management, wherein local communities are placed at the periphery and power has not yet been devolved formally to the communities under the existing institutional arrangements. Amendments to the broader legal framework are required to alter the existing power relationships and achieve decentralization of forest resource management.