Why Government, Interest Groups, and Research Coordinate: The Different Purposes of Forums. Issue 11 (2nd November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Maag, Simon; Fischer, Manuel
• Is Part Of: Society and natural resources. Volume 31:Issue 11(2018)
• Page Start: 1248
• Page End: 1265
• Publication Date: 2018-11-02
• Subjects: Advocacy orientation -- environmental governance -- forums -- sector orientation -- Switzerland -- typology; Natural resources -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2018.1484973
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-1920

Abstract

Abstract: Forums are organizations that facilitate coordination among actors from different societal sectors such as government, interest groups, and research. Forums can serve various purposes that we represent on two dimensions. The first dimension, sector orientation, assesses the degree to which a forum serves the needs of a specific societal sector. The second dimension, advocacy orientation, refers to the extent to which a forum is oriented toward advocating the shared interests of its members. The empirical application to a set of 36 forums in Swiss habitat and land use policy shows that both orientations capture important differences between forums. An improved understanding of these differences contributes to answering some key questions of forum research, such as those related to forum outputs, the role of forums in governance systems, or actors' incentives of forum participation.