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Arun Agrawal

Arun Agrawal is an Indian-origin political scientist whose work focuses on environmental politics, natural resource governance, and the political economy of development. He is widely associated with research on community-based forest management, decentralisation, and the institutions that shape human interactions with the environment in South Asia and other parts of the developing world.

Key facts

Name Arun Agrawal
Nationality Indian
Field Political science
Areas of research Environmental politics, natural resource governance, forest management, decentralisation, development

Background

Agrawal's scholarship sits at the intersection of political science, environmental studies, and development. His research has examined how local communities, state institutions, and international actors interact in the management of common-pool resources, particularly forests, and how policy choices around decentralisation influence environmental and livelihood outcomes.

Research themes

  • Common-pool resources: Studies of how communities organise to manage shared environmental resources, drawing on traditions of institutional analysis.
  • Forest governance: Analysis of community forestry, joint forest management, and the role of state forest departments in India and other countries.
  • Environmentality: A conceptual approach exploring how environmental regulation shapes the practices and identities of resource users.
  • Decentralisation and development: Examination of how the devolution of authority over natural resources affects equity, accountability, and ecological outcomes.
  • Climate change adaptation: Research on how rural and resource-dependent populations respond to environmental change.

Significance

Agrawal's work is frequently cited in academic and policy discussions on community-based natural resource management and the governance of forests in the Global South. His writing has contributed to debates about the role of local institutions in sustaining ecosystems and the ways in which state policy can either support or undermine community stewardship.

References