A short history of Dutch forest policy: The 'de-institutionalisation' of a policy arrangement

S. Veenman, D. Liefferink, B.J.M. Arts

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

44 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Over the past thirty years, forest policy in the Netherlands has almost entirely been integrated into nature policy. This process of `de-institutionalisation¿ is surprising in view of widely accepted theories of institutional stability and `path dependency¿. The process is investigated in this paper along the four dimensions of the policy arrangement approach: discourse, power, rules and actors. It is argued that a discursive shift, moving the focus from production forest to `forest as part of nature¿ and fuelled by a number of underlying factors, lies at the heart of the process. In concordance with this shift, advocates of timber autarky lost power in favour of `nature advocates¿. A more diverse set of actors became involved in forest policy, also reflecting a more general trend in Dutch politics towards greater openness and the erosion of neo-corporatist rules. Thus, changes in all four dimensions of the policy arrangement worked into one direction. This may explain the unusually quick and radical `de-institutionalisation¿ of Dutch forest policy.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)202-208
JournalForest Policy and Economics
Volume11
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

Keywords

  • (De-)institutionalisation
  • Discursive shift
  • Dutch forest policy
  • Policy arrangement approach

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