POWER AND POLITICAL CHANGE WITHIN GLOBAL FOREST GOVERNANCE: THE EU FLEGTACTION PLAN AS RECENTRALISATION

Abstract

Abstract This article is about policy change in the global governance of forests, focussing on EU regulatory interventions regarding illegal logging and the related world trade. In 2003, the European Union approved the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan in order to counter illegal logging and related trade. This EU legislation may appear as profoundly disruptive of the global governance of forests because it challenges private rulemaking. Private rule-making is no longer recognised as proof of legality but becomes legal only after evaluation and negotiations with the EU and timber-exporting countries. Despite appearances to the contrary, this legislation reflects an even deeper opposition to private rulemaking. Indeed, the EU FLEGT Regulation constitutes a recentralisation of power towards public authorities within the polycentric global governance of forests. This research finding was reached by drawing upon international relations and public policy literature to propose an analytical framework for future research on power displacement and competition within the global governance of forests. From this perspective, I have followed the participation of actors across scales of governance and grounded my work in qualitative methodology, using material drawn from the scientific and expert literature and interviews with stakeholders and EU institution representatives. Keywords: Global governance, European Union, forest policy, multiscalarity, authority, policy change ----- Bibliography: Montouroy, Yves: Power and political change within global forest governance: The EU flagtataion plan as recentralisation, ERIS, 2-2016, pp. 58-76. https://doi.org/10.3224/eris.v3i2.04