| 1. |
- Larsson, Magnus, 1983-
(författare)
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National environmental evaluation systems : guiding towards sustainability?
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Dealing with environmental threats is one of the largest, if not the largest, challenge contemporary societies face. One way to better deal with this challenge would be to produce knowledge that can be used to improve environmental work and environmental policy and thus ultimately contribute to sustainable development. National environmental evaluations, which this thesis explores, could potentially fill this function because they are supposed to generate applicable and useful knowledge for improving environmental policy and practice for a sustainable transition. However, what different environmental actors view as useful knowledge varies, and needs to be empirically investigated. Against this background, the aim of this thesis is to investigate whether, and how, national environmental evaluation systems contribute to key actors’ environmental work and sustainable development. The thesis explores two national environmental evaluation systems in Sweden.Method: A mixed methods approach is applied that combines three methods. Firstly, a narrative synthesis is developed and applied to compile a list of sustainable development effects from national environmental evaluations. Secondly, a critical program theory is used to investigate the evaluation system’s underlying logic and to assess the likelihood of it achieving its intended effects. Thirdly, a directed content analysis is used to explore the usability and use of environmental evaluations and evaluation systems. The methods are applied to various documents, interviews with key actors, and observations at two environmental seminars.Results: The results show that, to contribute to sustainable development in the context of evaluation systems and network governance, environmental evaluations need to be of sufficient quality and meet different stakeholders’ knowledge needs. However, only some evaluations meet this demand. The main value of national environmental evaluations and evaluation systems is that they reinforce the national objectives, provide a recurrent report on achievement of objectives, and push actors to take responsibility to improve their environmental work.
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| 2. |
- Mancheva, Irina, 1982-
(författare)
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Forest water governance : challenges in cross-sectoral and multi-level collaboration
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Forests and water are highly interconnected with forestry practices negatively affecting forest water. In the last five decades, the Swedish state has enacted multiple policy changes and allocated significant resources towards the implementation of soft policy instruments to alleviate the effects on forest water. The European Union Water Framework Directive has further raised the legal requirements for water protection, including within the forest sector. However, these efforts have largely failed thus far. Forests and water are governed by two separate sectors, each with its own polycentric governance system and policy goals that are often conflicting. The governance mode of these systems is determined by a unique combination of policy instruments and a varying degree of centralisation depending on state involvement. Since governing forest water requires collaboration between the forest and water sector governance systems, it entails interplay between the two systems on different ecological scales. The aim of this thesis is to explore and explain the challenges related to the governance of a resource that requires cross-sectoral multi-level governance and to examine the role of the state in those interactions. The thesis includes a mix of quantitative (survey and aerial photographs) and qualitative (interviews, analysis of documents and meeting observations) research methods for investigating forest water governance across national, regional and local levels. Empirically, it involves four case studies analysing units embedded in the larger case – namely cross-sectoral governance of forest water.The results show that within the current structure of Swedish forest water governance there is minimal cross-sectoral collaboration, with an exception being at the national level. Regional and local implementation of the outputs produced at national level relies mainly on the forest sector, with little to no coordination with water sector institutions at the regional district or river basin levels. Moreover, power asymmetries between the two sectors are transposed to the collaborative process which affects participants’ capacity to influence the governance of forest water. Since the studied cases show that most of the financial resources for forest water protection are provided top-down, the role of the state in initiating and maintaining collaboration is crucial. The thesis confirms previous research findings that water governance requires a more centralised polycentric governance system. Combining polycentric governance (including at the river basin scale) with centralised state-coordination is a potential solution to problems that require cross-sectoral and multi-level governance interplay. Further inquiry into cross-sectoral governance of natural resources could develop a better understanding of how coordination in polycentric governance systems at different ecological scales could be structured to mitigate policy goal conflicts across sectors and institutional levels, thus fostering more effective governance.
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| 3. |
- Miljand, Matilda, 1986-
(författare)
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The potential of systematic reviews in environmental social science : an analysis of its use to evaluate and inform policy
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There is common agreement that public policy should be formulated based onknowledge of how it works and makes impact. Both scientific knowledge andevaluations can contribute to environmental decision-making and play animportant role to inform policy development. Over the past two decades,systematic review (SR) methods have been proposed to contribute to thispurpose. SRs are literature reviews, using explicit methods for selecting andanalysing empirical data. This dissertation explores the opportunities andchallenges occurring when introducing SR methods into environmental socialscience. Two main research questions are answered: 1) What are theopportunities and challenges of applying SR methods to investigate policy issuesin general, and environmental policy issues in particular?; 2) How have SRs(process and product) been used to inform decision makers, how can they be usedand how can we understand such use?To this end, I examine how other researchers have used the SR methods (articleI); how project managers, researchers and stakeholders view the usefulness of themethods (article II); I apply a specific SR method to a policy issue (article III);and discuss the relevance of the SR methods in general to political science (articleIV). Multiple methods and materials were used, including an overview ofliterature, a realist review and interviews with project managers, researchers, andstakeholders.The findings can be summarised into four main points. Firstly, SR methods canbe used to evaluate environmental policy, but the challenges in applying themethods to social science policy research should be kept in mind. SR methodsprovide guidelines for how to make a literature review that is rigorous andmethodologically robust, with a number of benefits such as contributing with newempirical results and developing theory, methods and research design. At the same time, a number of challenges arise when they are to be applied to complexissues, heterogeneous research methods and data.Secondly, methodological pluralism should be applied in SR. Given how socialscience research is conducted (with many different methods, both qualitative andquantitative) and which issues are examined (often complex), I advocatemethodological pluralism regarding what should be considered an SR method. Itshould include both qualitative and quantitative methods, without any hierarchybetween them.Thirdly, there is need to nuance the theoretical understanding of how SRs areused and how they can be expected to be used. The findings suggest that bothvaggregative and configurative SRs will be used in different ways, including forinstrumental, conceptual and legitimising purposes. A more positive view oflegitimising use than what is often considered was revealed by the interviews,suggesting that legitimising use can also be helpful to inform policy.Fourthly, two additional benefits of SR methods can be added in relation to whatresearchers can derive from these. This includes more systematic identificationof knowledge gaps and showing where the evidence is weak or contradictory. Bysearching for all available research and then applying strict criteria for whichstudies to include, SR can provide a clearer picture of what research is availableand not. Furthermore, the very process of conducting an SR means that theresearcher who performs it must be confronted with a wider range of literatureand be forced to study the quality of the studies in a way that is rarely done. Thiscan provide insights into the consequences of different method choices as well asto literature beyond the researchers’ own disciplinary focus.
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| 4. |
- Söderberg, Charlotta, 1978-
(författare)
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Environmental policy integration in bioenergy : policy learning across sectors and levels?
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A central principle within UN and EU policy is environmental policyintegration (EPI), aiming at integrating environmental aspirations, targetsand requirements into sector policy in order to promote sustainabledevelopment. The focus of this study is EPI in bioenergy policy. Bioenergy isa renewable energy source of increasing importance in the EU and Swedishenergy mix. At the same time, it is debated how environmentally friendlybioenergy really is. Furthermore, bioenergy can be considered both a multisectorand a multi-level case, since bioenergy is produced in many differentsectors and bioenergy policy is formulated and implemented on differentlevels. Therefore, EPI in bioenergy policy is here analysed over time in twosectors (energy and agriculture) and on three levels (EU, national, subnational).A cognitive, policy learning perspective on EPI is adopted, tracingEPI through looking for reframing of policy towards incorporatingenvironmental objectives in policy rhetoric and practice. Furthermore,institutional and political explanations for the development are discussed.Paper I analyses EPI in Swedish bioenergy policy within energy andagriculture. Paper II analyses institutional conditions for multi-sector EPI inSwedish bioenergy policy. Paper III analyses EPI in EU bioenergy policywithin energy and agriculture. Paper IV analyses sub-national EPI in thecase of the Biofuel Region in north Sweden. The material examined consistsof policy documents complemented by semi-structured interviews. Together, the four papers provide a more complex and holistic picture ofthe EPI process than in previous research, which mainly has focused onstudying EPI in single sectors and on single levels. The study shows thatpriorities are different on different levels; that EPI has varied over time; butthat EPI today is detectable within bioenergy policy in both studied sectorsand on all levels. Policy learning in bioenergy is found to be mainly a topdownprocess. Furthermore, policy coherence between sectors and levels;long-term goals; and concrete policy instruments are found to be importantboth for the EPI process as such and for the outcomes from this process.However, when attempting to marry different goals, such as growth, securityand sustainability, in line with the three-tiered (economic, social, ecologic)sustainable development concept, environmental aspects risks not to beprioritised when goal conflicts arise. The study proposes that future researchboth continues the analysis of multi-sector and multi-level EPI, and furtherexplores to what extent ecological sustainability is improved by EPI.
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| 5. |
- Zachrisson, Anna, 1978-
(författare)
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Commons protected for or from the people? : Co-management in the Swedish mountain region?
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Protected areas have so far been the primary means to conserve biodiversity, an increasingly important environmental issue, but proposals to establish protected areas are often met by local resistance due to fears that user rights will be severely restrained. Nature conservation traditionally aims to preserve an ideal state of nature, in which interference by people is minimized through a number of regulations, and where central authorities are in charge. Increasingly, however, conservation policy emphasizes participation. Protected area designations are about institutional change where customary and legal rights to use and manage certain resources are renegotiated. Protected areas can be considered as multi-use and multi-level commons that may benefit from co-management where the state cooperates with user groups, municipalities, research institutions and others. This thesis analyzes the establishment phase of the co-management of multi-level, multi-use commons in order to characterize design principles common to the emergence of co-management processes which improve institutional robustness. The thesis is based on a quantitative survey study and a small-n comparative case study. Paper I compares national, regional and local public opinions about protected areas through a multi-level survey. Papers II to IV each presents a case study of a designation process within the Swedish mountain region. The qualitative case studies are based on the structured, focused comparison method and employ within-case analysis and process-tracing. The material examined consisted of written documentation and 41 semi-structured interviews. The two studies contribute to commons theory; the focus on the establishment phase provides opportunities to acquire abundant information about how contextual and process factors influence the functioning of a co-management arrangement. Paper I suggests that national public opinion is an important contextual variable for natural resources of national interest, and shows that 65% of the Swedish population support local or co-management of protected areas. Papers II to IV reveal that the rigidity of the existing institutional framework is another important contextual variable that influences the degree of learning taking place. Further, the comparative analysis proposes that certain characteristics of a process (the co-management process principles) are essential for the realization of co-management arrangements of multi-level and multi-use commons. The principles are representation, reason(ableness), powers, accountability and learning.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Therese, 1978-
(författare)
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En gemensam europeisk skogspolitik? : En integrationsteoretisk studie av ett politikområde på tillväxt
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines efforts to integrate a “new” policy sector – forest and forestry – into the European Union (EU). There is currently no legal foundation for a common forest policy and some member states (not least Sweden), as well as parts of the forestry sector, have been strongly opposed to one. At the same time, administrative units and structures within the EU have been created and they and some member states have promoted a common policy. This raises the question how can we understand and explain this?The purpose of this dissertation is to problematise, map and analyse mainly Swedish actors’ attitudes to efforts to create a common forest policy within the EU. The study is based on neofunctionalism, which is a classic theory of integration, but it uses newer theorising (from intergovernmentalism and modern versions of neofunctionalism) to address some of the weaknesses of the approach.I investigate the role, preferences and strategies of the main actors. This includes EU institutions and member states. I also map European industry interests and other associations, interest groups and active networks and study their role in the process. In these multi-national settings, I pay particular (although not exclusive) attention to their Swedish members. Within Sweden, I examine how governmental and non-governmental forest actors behave vis-à-vis the EU.The empirical investigation shows that some of Swedish actors, for example the private forest owners’ organisation and forest industries associations, have change their preferences and strate gies over time. They have come to believe that whether they like it or not, other policy areas affect forest and forestry both directly and indirectly. Because of this, they now take the position that it is better to promote a limited European forest policy rather than remaining aloof and risk the creation of a much more comprehensive and centralised policy. At the same time (and for now at least), the Swedish government and most party politicians remain opposed to any attempt to formalise a forest policy within the EU.This study contributes new knowledge about how new policy areas become integrated within EU, including knowledge about the roles that different actors can have in such processes. The results are of interest to researchers, decision makers and the interested public. They can also influence thinking about Sweden’s influence in, and relation to, EU forest policy.Based on the empirical results, my theoretical conclusion is that organised interests have an important role in the integration process. The integration process of forest and forestry is not driven by one actor, but by many different actors, who operate on different levels and who have different interests.This study shows that forest and forestry-related questions have come to the EU, and they will remain there. The important question for the future is not if there will be some kind of European level policy on forest and forestry, but rather what form European policy will take.
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| 7. |
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Bioenergi från skogen - möjligheter och begränsningar : Slutrapport från KSLA:s klimatgrupp för bioenergi
- 2024
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Det pågår en intensiv debatt om samhällets användning av bioenergi. Att bryta beroendet av ändliga, fossila resurser emot ett flöde av av förnybar energi har varit en drivande vision. Osäkerheten om vägen framåt ökar nu till följd av ökad internationell polaridering och konflikt. Därmed har energisäkerhet blivit ett viktigt argument för bioenergi.Förnybara energikällor - där bioenergi är en - erbjuder möjlighet att komma ut ur fossilberoendet som driver klimatförändring och som fortfarande helt dominerar energiförsörjningen både inom EU och globalt. Men det finns också viktiga begränsningar vad gäller den roll bioenergin kan spela. Debatten om bioenergin bidrag till att minska klimatpåverkan och fossilberoende försvåras av att forskningen inte ger något entydigt svar och att man ofta har olika utgångspunkter och fokus både bland forskare och intressenter. Vi har sammanfattat olika perspektiv och avvägningar mellan de aspekter som är viktiga att bekta i belsut på både kort och lång sikt i en svensk kontext.Den absoluta huvuddelen av svensk bioenergi kommer från skogen. Därför ligger vårt fokus på de skogliga bränslesortimenten, även om det finns en betydande potential också inom jordbruket. Vi har koncentrerat oss på de spaketer där gruppens medlemmar har god expertis. Frågor kring energiinfrastruktur, teknikutveckling och samhällsekonomiska överväganden behandlas mer översiktligt. Vi avsluta med en spaning in i framtiden om möjligheter för bioenergin i framtidens energisystem. Vår förhoppning är att KSLA med denna rappirt ska öka kunskapen - och kanske också avliva några myter - om bioenergins framtida roll.
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| 8. |
- Eckerberg, Katarina, Professor emerita, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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The Nature of Rural Development : The Case of Sweden
- 2001
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is a scoping study in a project initiated by WWF1 and partners into the nature of rural development in Europe. The project analyses rural development policies and practices in a range of countries with a view to developing a more robust model for sustainable, integrated rural development in the European Union. The scoping study has been supported by WWF and the British countryside agencies and undertaken by IEEP3, CRE4 and a consortium of independent consultants in 10 different European countries, over the period May to December 2000. The countries chosen include 6 EU Member States (Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, UK), 3 accession countries (Hungary, Latvia, Poland) and Switzerland, which has pursuedits own approach outside the EU. The aim of this study has been to investigate actors, institutions and attitudes towards rural development, in order to help clarify key issues in working towards sustainability. It has started with a broad list of potential areas of interest, as follows:The driving forces for rural changeInstitutions and institutional arrangements for rural developmentNational perspectives on rural development principles and policiesThe role of the environment in rural development policies and outcomesThe role of social values (participation, equity, etc) in rural developmentThe resourcing of rural development policyThe role of the urban–rural interfaceAccountability versus flexibility and innovation, in policy delivery
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Hagberg, Lovisa, 1970-
(författare)
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Finding a place for green politics : political space-time, globalisation and new environmental policy concepts
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching aim of this dissertation is to rethink green ideas for change in political space-time against the background of globalisation. It is based on two avenues of investigation. First, green ideas are contrasted with the analyses of current changes in political space-time found in the globalisation literature. Second, the kinds of political space-time that emerge in the encounter between two environmental policy concepts and environmental policy practice are studied. The policy concepts are river basin management and critical loads, both of which were launched as solutions to the problems policy-actors perceive in existing constructions of political space-time. Although the spatial reconfigurations entailed by processes of globalisation do not necessarily contradict green ideas, the temporalities of green theory and theories of globalisation are less easily reconciled. In terms of place, globalisation may lead to an increased interest in defending places, that is, the engagement with a politics of place. It is suggested that one could distinguish between politics of and politics in place, and that bioregionalism and other green theories concerned with place should strive towards the latter. The study of river basin management and critical loads raises important questions regarding the problem of scale in environmental politics. Whereas critical load deals with the problem of difference within a territory by abstraction, river basin management has also involved ideas about the importance of creating a sense of and care for place. Both concepts illustrate the challenge involved in considering the dynamic temporalities of nature in politics. New timeframes for environmental politics appear due to increased emphasis on issues of recovery from environmental change. It is observed that concepts like river basin management may carry very different spatial interpretations, for example, there is a difference in whether the river basin is understood in functional terms or as a container. Moreover, it is noted that different kinds of politics are at play in both cases. This suggests the possibility for greens to politicise political space-time at the margin, that is, in contexts which are not explicitly to do with spatio-temporal change. Finally, the study of green theory and theories of globalisation, and river basin management and critical loads, suggest that it is important to consider political space and time together. The possibility of developing a green politics of presence is offered as a potential first step in such an effort.
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| 11. |
- Jansson, Johan, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives on sustainability in Sweden : stuck between two paradigms?
- 2020
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Ingår i: The future of the North - sustainability in Nordic countries. - Marburg : Metropolis Verlag für Ökonomie, Gesellscahft und Politik GmbH. - 9783731613640 ; , s. 167-216
-
Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this chapter we take a look at some, primarily, environmental sustainability issues in Sweden. Sweden is in many aspects a rich country with high social and economic welfare and it usually comes out as a country that has handled environmental challenges well. However, from a consumption perspective, Swedish consumers are among the world leaders when it comes to metrics such as ecological footprint and carbon dioxide emissions per capita. By using two paradigmatic views, the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) and the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) we analyze sustainability in Sweden with a particular focus on energy use. We look at sustainability in the three broad areas of policies, corporate activities and consumption and in these areas we delve deeper into environmental sustainability issues concerning recycling and waste, energy efficiency, circular business models, sustainable consumer behaviors in relation to cars and transport, and responsible investments. We end the chapter by discussing implications for the future and the analytical framework and by developing a middle ground which we call ambiguous wavering.
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| 12. |
- Miljand, Matilda, et al.
(författare)
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Voluntary agreements to protect private forests : a realist review
- 2021
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Ingår i: Forest Policy and Economics. - : Elsevier. - 1389-9341 .- 1872-7050. ; 128
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is increasing political interest in the use of voluntary agreements (VA) as a policy instrument. The attraction has grown also in environmental policy, VAs are expected to be less costly, more effective and more cost-efficient than regulation. Using a realist review methodology, our analysis focuses on the effect of contextual factors and mechanisms on private forest owners' willingness to enter into formal voluntary nature conservation agreements. The framework we use to analyse the effects includes: forest owner characteristics, forest attributes, institutional context and process, advisors and other forest owners, and contract design, for contextual factors – and economic attitudes, environmental attitudes, sense of autonomy, sense of justice and fairness, trust as well as knowledge, for mechanisms. The analysis allowed merging findings from different types of VAs in varying contexts in a systematized way, and consolidating evidence of how the mechanisms influence the programme implementation process, and its outcome. 43 reviewed articles, from an originally retrieved set of 2231 papers, provide evidence for environmental attitudes supporting willingness to enter into an agreement. Environmental attitudes are strengthened by forest owners' wishes to protect a heritage, suggesting considerable influence through personal, emotional attachment to the forest. This finding shows the central role played by sense of autonomy, with economic compensation also importantly affecting the willingness to enter a VA. Along with these results, the developed comprehensive analytical framework shows how VAs can become more effective if tailored for different contexts and types of forest owners.
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| 13. |
- Mineur, Eva, 1975-
(författare)
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Towards sustainable development : Indicators as a tool of local governance
- 2007
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Beginning in the 1990s, sustainability indicators have rapidly been developed in different political contexts to measure progress towards reaching sustainable development. Previous research has largely focused on developing models and criteria for defining indicators in order to identify scientifically sound systems. However, sustainability indicators represent more than pure aggregated data; they represent values. This thesis takes its departure in seeing indicators as socially constructed, and aims to explore the role(s) indicators play in governance for local sustainable development. The traditional environmental policy discourse characterised by rationality and efficiency became challenged in the 1990s by the Agenda 21 discourse, emphasizing the need for citizen participation for environmental governance. Notions of efficiency and participation are, however, often in conflict since achieving participation is time consuming and efficiency requires results within short time frames. Thus, a tension in governance is created which is especially apparent at the local level and in politics relating to sustinable development.In this study, Sweden is seen as an extreme case in terms of implementing sustainable development policies. Swedish local authorities have been at the international forefront in developing sustainability indicators. Here, the work surrounding seven different sustainability indicator systems in three Swedish municipalities is analysed. The overall research question relates to the tension in governance: Are the sustinability indicators driven primarily by efficiency or participatory claims? The analytical framework combines two different, yet linked theoretical approaches: an institutional approach, which captures the organizational arrangements of the indicator systems; and a discourse inspired approach, shedding light on underlying notions and ‘problem’ representations embedded in the indicator systems. Interviews with politicians and local officers and written material serve as the main empirical sources.The analysis shows that local sustainability indicators vary to a great extent regarding their scope, which implies that sustainable development is interpreted differently depending on the local context. In general, goals linked to ‘soft’ issues like democracy, awareness raising and learning tend to be less indicated than ‘hard’ issues such as pure natural scientific measures. Oftenmost, participation is interpreted in its ‘weak’ form, that is stakeholders and citizens are being informed about political decisions taken or are invitated to attend meetings. Many politicians express concern abut participatory methods that aim for empowering citizens, claiming that this is in conflict with the idea of representative democracy. Surprisingly, the more participatory driven indicator systems have not become established in the municipal organisation despite the involvement of many different stakeholders in the developing process. In contrast, the more efficiency driven systems, have been internally anchored but involved very few external stakeholdes in the process. These latter systems are therefore most likely to be used and implemented. In general, politicians’ trust in expert knowledge in policy making is high and it is difficult to involve citizens in that process. Also, because work with sustainable development issues in general, and indicators in particular, is largely seen as projects rather than processes, the efficiency ideal prevails in local policy making – maybe not in rhetoric, but certainly in practice.
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| 14. |
- Steinwall, Anders, 1972-
(författare)
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To do or not to do : dealing with the dilemma of intervention in Swedish nature conservation
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Nature conservation is often seen as being primarily about shielding parts of nature from human intervention, e.g. by protecting areas. Over the last decades, however, intervention is increasingly being seen as necessary for nature to regain or retain its values, through ecological restoration and active management. This complicates simple assumptions that ‘nature knows best’ and raises dilemmas which are hotly debated in the scholarly literature around ecological restoration, protected area management, environmental ethics and green political theory. However, how these dilemmas are dealt with in actual policy struggles among the conservation professionals who make management decisions is less studied.This thesis explores how issues regarding active intervention in nature are represented, debated and institutionalized within Swedish nature conservation, and to what effect. The empirical focus lies on policy struggles around the designation and management of protected forests and around efforts to save a nationally threatened bird species, the white-backed woodpecker. My analytical framework is informed by Argumentative Discourse Analysis and Political Discourse Theory, to which I contribute a further elaboration of the notion of discourse institutionalization. Based on documents and interviews with conservation professionals, I identify competing articulations of the ends and means of conservation and relate these to scholarly debates around ecological restoration and interventionist conservation management. The analysis further focuses on how elements of the different policy discourses are institutionalized in rules, routines or official policy documents.Two main competing policy discourses are found: one focused on leaving pristine nature to develop freely, and one focused on active, adaptive management for biodiversity. While the former has previously been said to characterize the Swedish conservation bureaucracy, my analysis shows it is now widely seen as outdated. Arguments which in the scholarly literature are associated with an ethically informed defense of nature’s autonomy are here dismissed as emotional, aesthetic and thus unscientific concerns, delegitimizing them within the rational, science-based public administration for nature conservation. In contrast, biodiversity is broadly forwarded as a self-evident goal for active intervention, in line with both science and policy requirements. Adaptive management for biodiversity is in that sense the dominant discourse. Still, the older discourse is institutionalized in the purposes and management plans of existing nature reserves, and its defenders have also succeeded in strengthening that institutionalization through new and more restrictive guidelines. The findings suggest that this has been possible not only because of the gate-keeping role of a few centrally placed actors, but also because their restrictive stance resonates with the outside threat of exploitation which organizes the common order of discourse. Naturalness, a term described as irrelevant by some proponents of adaptive management for biodiversity, is also shown to remain a shared concern in several ways. The results thus highlight the importance of both entrenched common sense and institutionalization of certain logics or arguments in authoritative documents. The main theoretical contribution of the thesis consists in clarifying the effects of such discourse institutionalization — using the terms durability, legibility and leverage — and showing how the processes of negotiation, re-interpretation and modification of institutions are more dynamic than some accounts of discourse institutionalization suggest.Rather than trying to resolve (and thus remove) the dilemma of intervention, the thesis points to the importance of keeping open discussion of the ultimately unanswerable questions about intervention in nature alive in both theory and practice.
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