Sammanfattning

Two obstructionist ways of doing politics on contentious wildlife management issues currently reflect a legitimacy deficit in official channels for public engagement. The first is that of a pernicious "direct-action" politics, in the form of resort by hunters in rural Sweden to illegal killings of protected wolves over whose policy they contest. The second obstruction is when environmental non-governmental organizations routinely file appeals in higher-level courtrooms contesting democratically mandated wolf cull decisions. Although markedly different when it comes to their categorically deliberative values as well as fidelity to the law, we argue both extra-legal and the litigative phenomena reflect disenfranchisement with the participation channels in which such controversies may be resolved through a public dialogue. We also argue that both possess negative systemic deliberative value inasmuch as they frustrate goals of reaching deliberative consensus, by contributing to a stalled public communication on wolf management. We address this deficit by appeal to recent developments in the theory and practice of mini-publics that promote both the categorical and systemic deliberative value of channeling contestation. In particular, we appeal to a novel conception of hunter-initiated, but citizen controlled, mini-publics as a vehicle for re-starting stalled public communication on wolf conservation

Nyckelord

Contestation, obstructionism, illegal hunting, legal appeals, poaching, legitimacy, mini-publics, wolves

Publicerad i

Environmental Communication
2017, Volym: 11, nummer: 5, sidor: 654-666

SLU författare

• von Essen, Erica

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

Främja fredliga och inkluderande samhällen för hållbar utveckling, tillhandahålla tillgång till rättvisa för alla samt bygga upp effektiva, och inkluderande institutioner med ansvarsutkrävande på alla nivåer


UKÄ forskningsämne

Sociologi (exklusive socialt arbete, socialpsykologi och socialantropologi)
Juridik och samhälle


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2016.1269821

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/79739