From a critical institutionalism and institutional bricolage perspective, this article analyses what drives institutional change in the commons and the outcomes for forest and people. It builds on the comparison of three neighbouring villages in Burkina Faso that in 1989, expecting higher returns, agreed to release their common lands for the creation of a community forest called Chantier d’Aménagement Forestier (CAF) within an international forestry project. The project created new bureaucratic institutions to replace the pre-existing customary and socially embedded system. Decades later, the three villages display different institutional change pathways and outcomes: one village abandoned the CAF, converted, and sold its forest and land; another maintained the CAF; and a third operates in-between. Using qualitative research methods, we ask why and how these different change trajectories and outcomes occurred among villages of identical cultural and sociopolitical background. The results show that poor design and implementation of the new bureaucratic institutions, as well as their disrespect of customary and socially embedded rules, led to forestland disputes between the villages. The bureaucratic institutions failed to solve those disputes, effectively manage the forest, and share the benefits equitably. This caused local people’s discontent and prompted actions for change. Actors in diverse ways made use of their social networks, agency, and power relations within and between the villages to either reshape, re-interpret or reject the new forest institutions. These processes of institutional bricolage led to highly diverse trajectories of change. The findings demonstrate the crucial role of locals as agents of change from below and question universal claims in institutional theory on how institutions induce rule-guided behaviour and create path dependencies.

中文翻译：

---

“我们不是坏人”——布基纳法索拼砌和社区森林机构的兴起

本文从批判的制度主义和制度拼凑的角度分析了是什么推动了公地制度变革以及森林和人民的成果。它建立在对布基纳法索三个邻近村庄的比较基础上，1989 年，期望更高的回报，同意释放他们的共同土地，在一个国际林业项目中创建一个名为 Chantier d'Aménagement Forestier (CAF) 的社区森林。该项目创建了新的官僚机构，以取代先前存在的习惯和社会嵌入系统。几十年后，这三个村庄呈现出不同的制度变迁路径和结果：一个村庄放弃了CAF，转换并出售了其森林和土地；另一个维护 CAF；第三个在两者之间运行。使用定性研究方法，我们询问为什么以及如何在具有相同文化和社会政治背景的村庄中发生这些不同的变化轨迹和结果。结果表明，新的官僚机构设计和执行不力，以及他们对习惯和社会固有规则的不尊重，导致了村庄之间的林地纠纷。官僚机构未能解决这些纠纷，有效地管理森林，公平分享利益。这引起了当地民众的不满，并促使人们采取行动进行变革。行动者以不同的方式利用他们在村庄内部和村庄之间的社会网络、代理和权力关系来重塑、重新解释或拒绝新的森林机构。这些制度拼凑的过程导致了高度多样化的变化轨迹。