Settlement type and local government environmental policy in Hungary: the role of local economic structure and local government resources

Abstract

AbstractThe paper contributes to our understanding of local environmental policy and democratization in post‐socialist societies by providing a picture of the realities of local government environmental policy in Hungary. After outlining the economic, political and organizational context of environmental policy in Hungary, the paper presents the results of a national interview survey of 600 local governments. It is suggested that settlement type (ranging from capital city to small village) is a key influence for two reasons: their characteristic local economic structure and the resources available to their local governments.Local governments in larger settlements are more likely to be committed to local environmental policy due to their greater resources, and perceived environmental problems and preferred environmental policies vary between localities with different economic structures and sizes. There is a moderate degree of confidence in the effectiveness of local government environmental policy. The survey shows a near‐universal concern for changing the local economic structure, which has significant environmental implications (especially clear in the popularity of hi‐tech industry and tourism), but there is a polarization between localities regarding the expected speed of economic change. Care is taken to distinguish local environmental policy from the local effects of supra‐local policies. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.