Facts:
The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS in 2012, to run 2013-2016. It concluded with a symposium at Bergendal in Sollentuna on November 30-December 1 2016 with practitioners and researchers.
Confronting challenges to political legitimacy of the natural resource management regulatory regime in Sweden: The case of illegal hunting
Last changed: 04 April 2023
This four-year interdisciplinary research project explored the sociopolitical drivers to illegal hunting in Sweden through a multi-method approach comprising an in-depth interview study with Swedish hunters, a quantitative survey, critical discourse analysis and literature studies.
Symptom of legitimacy problems
Illegal hunting is a complex crime that may also be understood as a societal phenomenon of sorts: in this research, it is studied as a potential manifestation of distrust in the regulatory regime, disenfranchisement with nature directives and radicalization of some factions of the hunting community into a counterpublic. In short, it is approached as a symptom of, and challenge to, a crisis of legitimacy for authorities. The illegal killing of large carnivores like the wolf has been especially studied for its motivations, implications and the attitudes and experiences that provide the social climate around it.
The research project had the following principal objectives:
1. Deconstruct the notion of illegal hunting
2. Identify the constituting factors of illegal hunting in Sweden
3. Map the attitudes and perceptions toward illegal hunting and the relative distribution within the hunting community
Illegal hunting needs to be understood in a socio-political context also of other manifestations of dissent on the part of rural communities, including non-compliance, non-cooperation, boycotts, protests, spreading of rumors and the advancement of political populism from these seeds of resentment. The project saw illegal hunting as the most troublesome manifestation of dissent for the following reason: it signifies the disengagement and radicalization of hunters beyond communicative forms of dissent that seek to engage decision-makers in a political dialogue about change. Instead, it becomes about taking the law into one’s own hands – a strategy of shoot, shovel and shut up.
The landscape of illegal hunting of the Nordic countries, with minor studies in other parts of Europe and the world, has been extensively outlined by publications, popular articles and presentations in the project. Two extensions have been born out of this project in particular: the need to cultivate alternative and socially legitimate spaces for the popular engagement of citizens, and the need to map the Nordic hunting ethic (hyperlink).
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Researchers
Hans Peter Hansen, Researcher at Department of Bioscence - Wildlife Ecology at Aarhus University, previously researcher at the Division of Environmental Communication, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Hansen works with the challenges of modernity and the responses of society; within this, he has looked at sustainable and democratic approaches to natural resource management.
Erica von Essen, Associate Professor, Researcher at the Division of Environmental Communication, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. von Essen’s research areas include illegal hunting, wildlife ethics and political theory.
Helena Nordström Källström, Researcher at the Division of Environmental Communication, Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She has been working with livestock farmers, their ethics, and social sustainability of rural livelihoods and lifestyles.
M Nils Peterson, Associate Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University. His areas of expertise include intersections between human and natural systems and, in particular, issues pertaining to wildlife management and hunting.
Tarla R. Peterson, Professor of communication, Department of Communication, University of Texas at El Paso and former Guest Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Professor Peterson specializes in qualitative social research, environmental communication and natural resource management.
Graduate student collaborations
Ilektra Theodorakea, ECM (spring term 2014)
Marin Tournier, SD (spring term 2015)
Lina Cederlöf, ECM (spring term 2015)
Sara Andersson, ECM (spring term 2015)
Sara Garrido Espinosa, ECM (spring term 2016)
Read the thesis: "Constructing and Anticipating Conflict: How Madrid Prepares for Wolves”
Peer-reviewed publications
von Essen, E. Allen, A. 2016. "The Implications of Victimhood Identity: The Case of ‘Persecution’ of Swedish Hunters." International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy [under review]
von Essen, E. Allen, A. 2016. "Interspecies Violence and Crimes of Dissent: In what Sense are Wildlife the Victims of Message-Crimes?" Green Criminology Special Issue for Critical Criminology [forthcoming]
von Essen, E. Allen, M. Hansen, H.P. 2017. "Hunters, Crown, Nobles, and Conservation Elites: Class Antagonism over the Ownership of Common Fauna". International Journal of Cultural Property [forthcoming]
von Essen, E. Hansen, H.P. 2017. "Hunting in Modernity: The Impact of Sport Hunting on Food Procurement Ethics." In Kaplan, D (ed). Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics 2nd edition. [forthcoming]
von Essen, E., Hansen, H.P. 2017. ”Policing Peers between law and morality: A socio-legal perspective on managing misconduct in hunting. International Journal of Rural Criminology [forthcoming]
von Essen, E. 2016. Environmental Disobedience and the Dialogic Dimensions of Dissent.Democratization. DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2016.1185416
Media & popular publications
Vad Orsakar Illegal Jakt? (2013) Svensk Jakt
Danish television program “Ulvetimmen”: Hans Peter Hansen as panel member and Erica von Essen as expert interview (January 2016).
http://www.lantbruk.com/lantbruk/olaglig-jakt-ses-som-civil-olydnad
http://www.fjällsjö.nu/media/20160917-tjuvjakt-har-blivit-civil-olydnad.php
http://www.op.se/jamtland/doktorand-tjuvjakt-ar-en-form-av-civil-olydnad
http://www.atl.nu/lantbruk/olaglig-rovdjursjakt-som-civil-olydnad/
http://www.unt.se/asikt/debatt/tjuvjakt-ar-inte-civil-olydnad-4387500.aspx
http://www.allehanda.se/opinion/ledare/tjuvjakt-en-gerillataktik-mot-rovdjurspolitiken
von Essen, E. (2017). Vi måste förstå drivkrafterna. Svensk Jakt. Nr. 2. 2017, p. 21
von Essen, E (2017). Därför tar vissa jägare lagen i egna händer. Svensk Jakt. Nr. 1, 2017.
von Essen, E (2016). Tjuvjakt som hatbrott är en bortförklaring. Uppsala Nya Tidning Debatt. Published: 16-10-08. Uppsala. http://www.unt.se/asikt/debatt/tjuvjakt-som-hatbrott-ar-en-bortforklaring-4397534.aspx
Events and conferences
Some events and conferences at which the project has been presented include:
History of Game seminar: Stockholm held by Roger Bergström & Sveriges Vildnad. Sept 22, 2013
Illegal Hunting Research Workshop, Copenhagen, 16-17 June 2014
Rural Crime and Community Safety Special Issue seminar. Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Sept 18-19, 2014
SKANDULV Annual Meeting (23-25 November 2015)
Conference on Environmental Communication, Boulder Colorado 2015
British Society of Criminology Conference, Criminology: Voyages of Critical Discovery. Plymouth, UK. June 30 - July 3, 2015
Doing Green Criminology. University of Oslo. Oslo. Oct 15-16, 2015
SLU Grand Prix for young researchers, SLU, Uppsala. 2015.
Symposium Animals wild and tame – peering beyond categories. “A Rabble in the Zoopolis? Considering Responsibilities for Wildlife Hybrids”. Turku University, Finland. May 30-31 2016
Swedish Hunting Association’s bi-annual Board Members Conference, February 10, 2017.
Presented research at the National Hunters Association’s annual Organization Conference, February 19, 2017.
The Future Of The Nature Directives: Where Are We Going? Conference - 7 March 2017, European Parliament, Brussels, at the invitation of FACE (The European Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation)
Contact
Erica von Essen, Associate Professor, Division of Environmental Communication, SLU, +4618671898