The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden
Due to its oftentimes complex, contested, and multi-scale character, natural resource management (NRM) tends to be a challenging task that has been met with various political approaches in order to meet demands for legitimacy. One approach to enhancing the legitimacy of NRM that has gained increased...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/730/2584 |
| _version_ | 1818749225888907264 |
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| author | Sverker C. Jagers Simon Matti Greg Poelzer Stan Yu |
| author_facet | Sverker C. Jagers Simon Matti Greg Poelzer Stan Yu |
| author_sort | Sverker C. Jagers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Due to its oftentimes complex, contested, and multi-scale character, natural resource management (NRM) tends to be a challenging task that has been met with various political approaches in order to meet demands for legitimacy. One approach to enhancing the legitimacy of NRM that has gained increased attention within the academic literature is the adoption of local participatory democracy in decision-making processes. Advocates of participatory democracy in NRM propose that local participation achieves the following outcomes: increased legitimacy because it ensures that local needs and priorities are successfully met; decision-making based on more complete information, which helps avoid unexpected negative outcomes; and a sense of belonging and influence among the public, leading to increased perceptions of support and partnership, as opposed to NRM which is imposed on the community. Nevertheless, comprehensive empirical studies that document how public participation affects legitimacy remain rare. Using 2015 data collected on people’s attitudes towards mining in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties, Sweden, this paper empirically assesses whether and how perceptions of local participation affect the legitimacy of mining development. In turn, this paper finds that perceived public participation does affect the public’s propensity to support mining development and this propensity is mediated by people’s perceptions of the interests present in the decision-making process, their normative beliefs concerning which actors should be allowed to participate in the decision-making process, and certain individual-level and contextual-level factors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:00:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-610e12e9922d46f8ac529dea805be4e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2387-4562 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:00:24Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arctic Review on Law and Politics |
| spelling | doaj.art-610e12e9922d46f8ac529dea805be4e92022-12-21T21:21:42ZengCappelen Damm Akademisk NOASPArctic Review on Law and Politics2387-45622018-06-019012414710.23865/arctic.v9.730arctic.v9.730The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern SwedenSverker C. JagersSimon MattiGreg PoelzerStan YuDue to its oftentimes complex, contested, and multi-scale character, natural resource management (NRM) tends to be a challenging task that has been met with various political approaches in order to meet demands for legitimacy. One approach to enhancing the legitimacy of NRM that has gained increased attention within the academic literature is the adoption of local participatory democracy in decision-making processes. Advocates of participatory democracy in NRM propose that local participation achieves the following outcomes: increased legitimacy because it ensures that local needs and priorities are successfully met; decision-making based on more complete information, which helps avoid unexpected negative outcomes; and a sense of belonging and influence among the public, leading to increased perceptions of support and partnership, as opposed to NRM which is imposed on the community. Nevertheless, comprehensive empirical studies that document how public participation affects legitimacy remain rare. Using 2015 data collected on people’s attitudes towards mining in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties, Sweden, this paper empirically assesses whether and how perceptions of local participation affect the legitimacy of mining development. In turn, this paper finds that perceived public participation does affect the public’s propensity to support mining development and this propensity is mediated by people’s perceptions of the interests present in the decision-making process, their normative beliefs concerning which actors should be allowed to participate in the decision-making process, and certain individual-level and contextual-level factors.https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/730/2584legitimacyNatural Resource Managementinput legitimacyoutput legitimacythroughput legitimacynorthern communitieslocal participationnorthern canadanorthern swedenmining |
| spellingShingle | Sverker C. Jagers Simon Matti Greg Poelzer Stan Yu The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden Arctic Review on Law and Politics legitimacy Natural Resource Management input legitimacy output legitimacy throughput legitimacy northern communities local participation northern canada northern sweden mining |
| title | The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden |
| title_full | The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden |
| title_short | The Impact of Local Participation on Community Support for Natural Resource Management: The Case of Mining in Northern Canada and Northern Sweden |
| title_sort | impact of local participation on community support for natural resource management the case of mining in northern canada and northern sweden |
| topic | legitimacy Natural Resource Management input legitimacy output legitimacy throughput legitimacy northern communities local participation northern canada northern sweden mining |
| url | https://arcticreview.no/index.php/arctic/article/view/730/2584 |
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