Policy Change in Forest Nature Conservation. An Actor Centered Power Analysis

• Applicant: Dr. Christiane Hubo
• Subject Area: Forestry ; Political Science
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 376182053

Against the background of changing social, economic and climate-related framework conditions for the use and protection of the forest, which require new political solutions, the project is investigating ways of political change in forest nature conservation.The project thus follows on from the previous project, which focused on the partisan theory and was able to prove that the change of governing parties was a decisive factor for changes in forest conservation. Using the data obtained there, the question is now being pursued of how actors in the conflicting policy sectors of forestry and nature conservation, i.e. in particular associations and specialist administrations, influence policy change. The investigation is guided by the findings of actor-centered power theory. Political change can then be conceived as a result of the use of power resources and depends on the extent to which the conflicting parties, here the actors in the policy sectors of forestry and nature conservation, use power resources. The actor-centred theory of power also asks about the factors that change the use of power resources and in this way lead to political change. Changes in government are relevant to the project as “change factors”, which are examined in connection with the use of power resources. In addition, we examine how the use of crises, which in the present context are particularly significant as climate and forest crises, affects the use of power resources.The project uses the case study method in order to be able to investigate the paths of policy change in a dedicated manner. Qualitative and quantitative methods of empirical social research are combined.The knowledge gained should help to better understand the political design of change processes in the forest.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants