Uniformity and Individuation of Transboundary Marine Institutions

A new model of governance is proposed and its use illustrated in a case study in turtle habitat management in the Sulu Sea. In contrast to formal models, such as hierarchies, coalitions, and networks, the model of care depicts institutions as primarily constituted through the active working and reworking of relationships. The complex, dynamic, and multiplex nature of relationships acts to blur formal characteristics of the system, including structure, rules, and roles. The model, which portrays decentralized modes of governance as structures of care, helps explain how complex linkages and patterns of behavior evolveand function. We elaborate on the model of care by using it to more deeply understand the evolution, unraveling, and restoration of a system of resource management on the Turtle Islands in Southeast Asia. The research, a collaboration with Profs. Helen Ingram and John Whiteley, provides insights into what makes some institutions work, and others fail, especially under profound decentralization. lejano@uci.edu