What does this research mean for the field?

In marginalized, hybrid governance settings, collective action for local public goods is achieved through 'institutional braiding'—the active interweaving of state, customary, and religious authorities to make cooperation socially legitimate and binding. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine how collective action for local public goods is established, sustained, and challenged within hybrid governance environments involving state, customary, and religious authorities.

September 8, 2026Political GeographyOpen Access

Collective action at the margins of the state: Institutional braiding and the micro-politics of development in Solomon Islands

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Authors

CMClaire Mcloughlin GNGordon Nanau THTony Hiriasia

Discussion

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Overview

Comparative case study reveals how institutional braiding enables collective action in remote villages, highlighting the relational labor needed to align state, customary, and religious authority.

Key Points

To examine how collective action for local public goods is established, sustained, and challenged within hybrid governance environments involving state, customary, and religious authorities.
Conducted four comparative village-level case studies in Solomon Islands grounded in locally led fieldwork and Indigenous epistemologies.
Analyzed community-led infrastructure and service initiatives—including roads, water systems, and agriculture—using Ostrom's design principles as adaptable heuristics.
Mobilization and rule-making depended on shared cultural imaginaries of pride, hardship, and care alongside social visibility, rather than purely formal procedural oversight or material incentives.
Identified institutional braiding—the micropolitical translation, role alignment, and relational repair across church, kastom, and state domains—as the primary mechanism making plural authority legitimate and workable.

Cite This Study

Mcloughlin et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa0091858e84d0ff5b47b3c https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103664

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September 8, 2026Political GeographyOpen Access

Collective action at the margins of the state: Institutional braiding and the micro-politics of development in Solomon Islands

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

CMClaire Mcloughlin GNGordon Nanau THTony Hiriasia

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Comparative case study reveals how institutional braiding enables collective action in remote villages, highlighting the relational labor needed to align state, customary, and religious authority.

Key Points

To examine how collective action for local public goods is established, sustained, and challenged within hybrid governance environments involving state, customary, and religious authorities.
Conducted four comparative village-level case studies in Solomon Islands grounded in locally led fieldwork and Indigenous epistemologies.
Analyzed community-led infrastructure and service initiatives—including roads, water systems, and agriculture—using Ostrom's design principles as adaptable heuristics.
Mobilization and rule-making depended on shared cultural imaginaries of pride, hardship, and care alongside social visibility, rather than purely formal procedural oversight or material incentives.
Identified institutional braiding—the micropolitical translation, role alignment, and relational repair across church, kastom, and state domains—as the primary mechanism making plural authority legitimate and workable.

Cite This Study

Mcloughlin et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa0091858e84d0ff5b47b3c https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2026.103664

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark