Talk:
“Commons Management in Migrant Communities”
by
Godfreyb Ssekajja
Ph.D. candidate
O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs and the Department of Political Science
Indiana University Bloomington, the USA
gssekajj@iu.edu
Monday, January 17, 2022, 17:30 p.m.
***This is an online event. To obtain Zoom link and password, please contact to the department.
Contact Info:
pols@bilkent.edu.tr
Abstract:
Are migrant communities less likely to engage in collective action to support institutions for common pool resource management, and if so, what are the likely underlying mechanisms? Focusing on Buvuma Island, which is situated in Uganda’s portion of Lake Victoria, I study the efforts at locally supporting forestry regulations among randomly selected communities. These communities have varying proportions of immigrants and prospective out-migrants, and they are confronting the degradation of adjacent forest reserves. The evidence from survey data on 293 randomly selected heads of households suggests that migrant communities are less likely to support common pool resource institutions. The same evidence suggests that the lower likelihood of support among migrant communities has more to do with their weaker relationships (of reputation, reciprocity, and trust) than their expectations about the net-benefits from common pool resource institutions.
Short Bio:
Godfreyb Ssekajja is a Ph.D. candidate in the Public Policy program (managed jointly by the O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs and the Department of Political Science) at Indiana University Bloomington. His research focuses on the micro-foundations of institutions for sustainable resource management. His doctoral dissertation, titled “Migration & Diversity in Community: Analyzing the Determinants of Institutions for Collective Action,” uses a mixed-methods research design, involving fieldwork and data analysis on forestry and sanitation management to explore mechanisms regarding the potential for institutions of collective action.