ABSTRACT
A number of research studies were published throughout the 90s, aimed at assessing the effectiveness of project EIA. These studies, carried out in different national and international contexts, adopted different concepts of E IA effectiveness and, partially as a result, different research methodologies. Some elected the preparation of the EIA study as the research focus, e.g. Wood et al, 1 99 1 ; Lee and Dancey, 1 993; Glasson et al, 1 997. Others emphasised the role and importance of procedural aspects of the E IA process, such as scoping, screening, public participation or decision making, e.g. Devuyst et al, 1 993; Wood, 1 995 ; Sadler, 1 996; Harvey, 1 998; Jones et al , 1 998; Barker and Wood, 1 999; Weston, 2000; to name just a few from a much longer l ist available in the l iterature. In the overall, they revealed the importance of legal, institutional and resource constraints for the understanding of the particular performance of national E I A systems. They also revealed wide ranging perspectives on the role of project E IA as a major national, regional and/or local environmental policy instrument.
