Policy Capacity for Promoting Green Sectors Reconsidered: Lessons from the Renewable Electricity and Organic Farming Sectors in Serbia

† The article is based on the paper which received the Best Paper Award at the Kiel Young Researcher Conference on Green Growth, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 15–16 November 2012.

Abstract

What governing capacity is needed for promoting emerging green sectors in a sustainable manner and under what conditions is this governing capacity likely to emerge and be sustained in less-developed and transition countries? The article sets out to explore these questions by conducting a comparative policy analysis of the organic farming and renewable electricity sectors in Serbia—an European Union candidate country in the midst of economic transition and democratic consolidation. Although they both face important difficulties in securing meaningful and stable growth, the organic farming sector in Serbia has been found to perform better than the renewable electricity sector in promoting the green economy objectives. Drawing on the latest insights from the literature on policy capacity, the article demonstrates how the higher level of key components of policy capacity, particularly associative capacity and institutionalized deliberation between state and non-state actors, has led to more comprehensive policy outputs and better policy results in organic farming. The article also shows considerable policy deficits in both sectors and concludes that for the institutionalization of policy capacity and long-term development of green sectors, the controversies in the broader political framework have to be alleviated.

Key Words:

• Green economy
• renewable electricity
• organic farming
• policy capacity
• Serbia

Notes

† The article is based on the paper which received the Best Paper Award at the Kiel Young Researcher Conference on Green Growth, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, 15–16 November 2012.

1. For renewable electricity, see Lafferty and Ruud (2008); for organic agriculture, see Moschitz and Stolze (2010); for a comparative case study of two sectors within one country, see Nilsson and Eckerberg (2007).

2. The structure and titles of ministries in Serbia are subject to regular changes. For convenience in this article, the Agriculture and Energy Departments will be referred to as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Energy Ministry, respectively.

3. For a comparison of the list of authorized control bodies, see März et al. (2011, 2012, 2013).

4. According to the latest figures from 2012, the total utilized agricultural area in Serbia is equal to 3,355,859 ha, see http://popispoljoprivrede.stat.rs/.

5. With the formation of the new government in mid-2012, the energy and environmental authorities were brought under one ministry.

6. For a theoretical discussion on network governance and the role of state actors as network managers, see Klijn and Koppenjan (2000).

7. For a cross-national analysis of the development of associative capacity in the organic farming field, see Halpin, Daugbjerg, and Schvartzman (2011).