Is There a New European Forest Owner? The Institutional Context

This chapter describes how the forest owner can be seen as differently constructed in different European countries depending on, amongst other things, whether it has been necessary to re-create the forest owner and forest ownership tradition following restitution, forest or agricultural traditions, and the historical role of the small-scale forest owner. Patterns of international and national policy change, the role of supporting infrastructure such as forest owner organisations, and patterns of inheritance have also been important in constructing the forest owner. In that, the chapter contextualises and clarifies much of the case focus in other chapters-it also clarifies how different forest systems, forest owner structures, and thereby potentially also the role of forest in rural development and rural studies may vary in different countries. © The Author(s) 2017.