<Chapter 2> Optimizing forest government and governance in Europe: Defining forest policy with national tradition or European Union "modernization"

Abstract

Since 1990, when Eastern Europe began the transition toward democracy and a market economy, integration of the European Union has strengthened. This has caused both problems and opportunities for the forestry sector, resulting in two types of responses in forest policy. In the first case, in the emerging democracies, the classic instruments of forest government—the rule of law, private ownership and markets for forestry—were instituted or rebuilt. With respect to these reforms, implementation is the major problem today. In the second response, forest governance—cooperative forest policy-making with selforganizing networks of participants from policy, economy and society—was introduced through National Forest Programs or the forest strategy of the European Union. This paper examines relevant policymaking theory, network analysis and case studies in order to demonstrate that this new forest governance offers opportunities for mutual learning, but that the results are also determined by power processes. By showing how power is distributed, network analysis provides useful information in the decision whether to join a specific network. Enhanced forest governance could be a new task for a “facilitating state forest administration.” Whether the state forest service should jump into this new role depends on its ability to become a trusted mediator among all stakeholders in the forests. In conclusion, to develop a strong forest policy it is recommended not simply to follow the EU modern forest governance policy blindly but also to rely on traditional national government instruments and to actively make use of the governance instruments in selected cases only.