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Participation, public policy-making, and legitimacy in the EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement process: The Cameroon case

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  • Wodschow, Astrid
  • Nathan, Iben
  • Cerutti, Paolo

Abstract

This paper discusses how participatory policy-making processes such as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiations are and should be organised to foster political legitimacy and support. The VPAs are bilateral agreements between the European Union (EU) and timber producing countries. VPAs constitute a cornerstone in EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme, the most important tool for the EU to address illegal logging problems. The EU requires that national VPA negotiations include participation by the relevant stakeholders. Based on primary data, we compare the VPA negotiations in Cameroon (2006–2009) with three different ‘ideal’ models of participatory policy-making: the rationalist, the communicative incremental and the mixed model, which we expect have different implications for legitimacy. We conclude that the Cameroonian process is closest to a rationalist model with elements of the mixed model, and that this has increased legitimacy and support only to a limited extent. For future processes in other countries, we recommend stronger elements of the mixed model, and more careful considerations about stakeholder identification processes; how to adapt policy-process to specific contexts; and how to strengthen communication and information flows. Considerations about these elements could also strengthen the applicability of the ideal models.

Suggested Citation

  • Wodschow, Astrid & Nathan, Iben & Cerutti, Paolo, 2016. "Participation, public policy-making, and legitimacy in the EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement process: The Cameroon case," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:63:y:2016:i:c:p:1-10
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2015.12.001
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    1. Carodenuto, Sophia & Cerutti, Paolo Omar, 2014. "Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) in Cameroon: Perceived private sector benefits from VPA implementation," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 55-62.
    2. Springate-Baginski, Oliver & Thein, Aung Kyaw & Neil, Anthony & Thu, Win Myo & Doherty, Faith, 2014. "Democratising timber: An assessment of Myanmar's emerging ‘Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade’ (FLEGT) process," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 33-45.
    3. Buttoud, Gerard & Yunusova, Irina, 2002. "A `mixed model' for the formulation of a multipurpose mountain forest policy.: Theory vs. practice on the example of Kyrgyzstan," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 149-160, June.
    4. Heidbreder, Eva G., . "Civil society participation in EU governance," Living Reviews in European Governance (LREG), Institute for European integration research (EIF).
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    3. Rose P. Kicheleri & Thorsten Treue & Martin R. Nielsen & George C. Kajembe & Felister M. Mombo, 2018. "Institutional Rhetoric Versus Local Reality: A Case Study of Burunge Wildlife Management Area, Tanzania," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, May.
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    5. Adams, Marshall Alhassan & Kayira, Jean & Tegegne, Yitagesu Tekle & Gruber, James S., 2020. "A comparative analysis of the institutional capacity of FLEGT VPA in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ghana, Liberia, and the Republic of the Congo," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
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    7. Tegegne, Yitagesu Tekle & Ramcilovic-Suominen, Sabaheta & Kotilainen, Juha & Winkel, Georg & Haywood, Andrew & Almaw, Addisu, 2022. "What drives forest rule compliance behaviour in the Congo Basin? A study of local communities in Cameroon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Yitagesu Tekle Tegegne & Mathias Cramm & Jo Van Brusselen, 2018. "Sustainable Forest Management, FLEGT, and REDD+: Exploring Interlinkages to Strengthen Forest Policy Coherence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, December.
    9. de Bruin, Jilske Olda & Kok, Kasper & Hoogstra-Klein, Marjanke Alberttine, 2017. "Exploring the potential of combining participative backcasting and exploratory scenarios for robust strategies: Insights from the Dutch forest sector," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(P2), pages 269-282.
    10. Satyal, Poshendra, 2018. "Civil society participation in REDD+ and FLEGT processes: Case study analysis from Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia and the Republic of Congo," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 83-96.
    11. Verhaeghe, Elke, 2021. "The (post)politicisation of timber trade: (Un)invited participation in the EU-Vietnam Voluntary Partnership Agreement," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    12. Nkemnyi, Mbunya Francis & De Herdt, Tom & Chuyong, George B. & Vanwing, Tom, 2016. "Reconstituting the role of indigenous structures in protected forest management in Cameroon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 45-51.

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