Parks, Policies and People : Nature Conservation Governance in Post-Socialist EU Countries

This thesis explores key challenges and opportunities for nature conservation policy and practices at the local level in a context of postsocialist legacies and Europeanization to further understand the ongoing governance changes in Central Eastern Europe. Multi-level governance, Europeanization, and post-socialist studies are used as theoretical vehicles for the analysis of four transboundary national parks: Pieninsky national parks (NP) in both Poland and Slovakia and Bieszczady NP [Poland] and Poloniny NP [Slovakia]. Nature conservation and rural development are seen increasingly as interlinked agendas. In practice, however, the local potential for their integration remains limited, and often no strategic vision exists for how to achieve it. Local actors are reluctant to engage in developing more inclusive, transparent, accountable, and participatory policy making, as they have often experienced few positive outcomes from these strategies. Natalya Yakusheva carries out research in the field of environmental science with a special focus on environmental governance. This is her PhD thesis.