ABSTRACT
This chapter employs the lens of rural governance to explore agrienvironmental collective action in Scotland, including the implementation of agri-environmental schemes (AES) at a landscape, rather than an individual farm, scale. Collective action was being considered by the state1 as a means of achieving agri-environmental gains through management at this landscape scale (Sobels et al. 2001; Williamson et al. 2003). We position our findings within the broader debate about rural governance and local agency. Governance perspectives focus our attention on the relationships between different actors who set the agenda for, develop, implement and evaluate rural policies. Thus, governance perspectives raise questions about how these policies are designed and how their creation, implementation and evolution are shaped by different actors.
