What Is the Role of the Government in Wildlife Policy? Evolutionary Governance Perspective

Krzysztof Niedziałkowski and Renata Putkowska-Smoter
Additional contact information
Krzysztof Niedziałkowski: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland / Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Renata Putkowska-Smoter: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland / Faculty of Sociology and Education, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland

Politics and Governance, 2021, vol. 9, issue 2, 428-438

Abstract: With the growing populations and range of large wild mammals in Europe, wildlife governance has grown in importance and provoked social conflicts, pressuring policy-makers to provide adequate policy responses. Some countries chose decentralised approaches, while others retain traditional top-down mechanisms. However, evolutionary mechanisms behind those changes and their impact on steering have attracted relatively little attention. We investigated the evolution of the governance of three wildlife species (European bison, moose, and wolf) in Poland (1945–2020) to map their existing paths and explore external and internal factors influencing steering patterns. The results suggest that despite the persistent dominance of state-centred governance and top-down hierarchical instruments characteristic for a post-socialist country, steering involved intense and often informal communication with influential actors. A growing diversity of actors and discourses in wildlife governance increased the state’s steering options and improved conservation outcomes. Concurrently, the government’s steering shifted from concrete policy results to managing tensions and interests within the field. These transformations helped to retain the effectiveness of steering in the changing context, while retaining state-dominated governance.

Keywords: carnivore conservation; environmental policy; institutional change; organisational theory; policy analysis; ungulate management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4106 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v9:y:2021:i:2:p:428-438

DOI: 10.17645/pag.v9i2.4106

Access Statistics for this article

Politics and Governance is currently edited by Carolina Correia

More articles in Politics and Governance from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().