Negotiated autonomy: Transforming self-governing institutions for local common-pool resources in two tribal villages in Taiwan

The current literature on common-pool resources suggests that appropriators ' autonomy in determining access and harvesting rules is a pre-condition fo r successful local self-governance, Yet few studies have been done to exami ne how local communities that ave faced with outside intrusion can regain s uch autonomy. This paper examines this issue by studying how two mountain t ribal villages in Taiwan have attempted to rebuild their indigenous rules g overning the rise of their local stream fisheries. One village, Shan-Mei, h as been move successful than tile other village, Li-Chia, in restoring self -governance in fishery conservation. Shan-Mei's relative success is explain ed by its villagers' willingness and ability to develop mutually beneficial relationships with external stakeholders and to attain a negotiated autono my from the larger society.