Public interest or private agenda? A meditation on the role of NGOs in environmental policy and management in Australia
Date
2006
Authors
Lane, Marcus B.
Morrison, T. H.
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Journal article
Citation
Journal of Rural Studies, 2006; 22 (2):232-242
Statement of Responsibility
Marcus B. Lane and T.H. Morrison
Conference Name
Abstract
Non-government organisations (NGOs) have come to assume an important role in environmental policy in Australia. This paper considers the institutional impacts of an enlarged and formal role for NGOs in environmental governance. To foreground the analysis that follows, the paper theorises: (i) the structural democratisation of western societies which provides the preconditions for civic approaches to environmental governance; (ii) civil society organisations as political actors; and (iii) the link between non-state associations and democracy. Against this background, the paper surveys some of the ways in which NGOs are being formally involved in environmental policy and management in Australia. The paper proceeds to identify a series of risks associated with these approaches. The paper concludes by calling for a more nuanced and critical appraisal of the role of NGOs in environmental policy so political space might be reserved for the public interest and to ensure that the democratic effects of civil society are not diminished.
School/Discipline
School of Social Sciences : Geographical and Environmental Studies