Tracing governance transitions: A qualitative framework for analysing shifts from rights-based to entrepreneurial governance regimes

Environmental and natural resource governance rarely changes through a single policy break. Shifts are more often expressed through changing objectives, institutional incentives, evaluation indicators, evidence practices, and the roles assigned to communities. This article introduces Governance Transition Tracing (GTT) for examining these changes over time. Developed through iterative application in social forestry research, GTT integrates institutional actor mapping, policy objectives, evidence systems, and community positioning. It is intended for use in environmental governance, conservation, community forestry, and rural development, particularly where rights-based, participatory, and entrepreneurial governance logics overlap. The framework helps researchers distinguish rights-based, hybrid, and entrepreneurial governance configurations and compare governance trajectories across phases and cases. • Traces governance through five analytical dimensions and six analytical steps. • Combines interviews, documents, reports, and observations through cross-source triangulation. • Supports the identification of rights-based, hybrid, and entrepreneurial governance regimes.