Rethinking development around the commons: The case of Mohéli National Park (Comoros)

In many African countries, natural resource management policies unfold in contexts characterized by severe structural vulnerabilities, external dependence, and uneven institutional capacities. This article examines these dynamics through the case of Mohéli National Park in the Comoros, using the notion of “administered commons.” It analyzes how local forms of collective resource management are progressively integrated, formalized, and supervised through public action and project-based interventions, without becoming fully autonomous institutions. Rather than opposing community-based governance to state intervention, the study highlights hybrid configurations shaped by power relations, information asymmetries, and ongoing negotiations between local actors, the state, and international partners. Adopting a political economy perspective, the article argues that commons can be understood as analytical lenses through which to examine contemporary transformations of public action in Africa, particularly in national trajectories marked by external dependence and international governance agendas.