Creating woodland crofts : a study on ways to govern the rural

Abstract: Crofting is a form of small scale, agricultural land tenure, unique to North and West Scotland. Since the launch of the Crofting Reform Act in 2007, the creation of new crofts in woodland environments is possible. These so called woodland crofts encompass small-scale woodland management and are essentially applying the traditional concept of crofting to a woodland context. This master’s thesis explores the policy instruments deployed through the legislation and policy for woodland crofts and different actors’ experiences of the process of creating new woodland crofts. Furthermore, the study discusses how the policy for woodland crofts can be understood in relation to ways of governing the rural. Through a literature review and through interviews with crofters, community groups and representatives from public and civil organisations, the study shows how community groups are given a prominent role in some of the policy instruments. The study further shows how different governmental approaches to govern the rural can be seen in the policy area of woodland crofts. Indeed, certain aspects of woodland croft policies are observed as being governed through detailed legislations and regulations, while there are also other approaches, of governing through less direct intervention, and instead ‘govern at a distance’. The study also describes how the policy areas of woodland crofts and land reform, are closely connected and shows how woodland croft policies seems to have emerged within the political rationality of the Scottish land reform agenda. The focus on community groups in the policies, is seen as an indication of governmental strategies of ‘government through community’.