Misplaced Distrust

A timely comparative study of state-network interactions in agro-environmental policy-making in the US, Canada, and France.

Citizens of industrialized countries largely share a sense thatnational and international governance is inadequate, believing not onlythat public authorities are incapable of making the right policydecisions, but also that the entire network of state and civil societyactors responsible for the discussion, negotiation, and implementationof policy choices is untrustworthy.

Using agro-environmental policy development in France, the UnitedStates, and Canada as case studies, Éric Montpetit sets out toinvestigate the validity of this distrust through careful attention tothe performance of the relevant policy networks. He concludes thatdistrust in policy networks is, for the most part, misplaced becausehigh levels of performance by policy networks are more common than manypolitical analysts and citizens expect. Opposing the tenets of stateretrenchment, his study reveals that providing participation ingovernance to resourceful interest groups and strong governmentbureaucracies is an essential component of sound environmental policiesfor agriculture.

A timely and crucial contribution to the good governance debate,this book should be required reading for policy makers and politicians,as well as students and scholars of public policy, political science,environmental studies, and government.