Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Sajedeh Safikhani ¹
• Arashk Holisaz ²

¹ Ph.D. Department of Watershed Management Sciences and Engineering, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran.

² Associate Professor, Watershed Management Sciences and Engineering, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Problem and background
During recent decades, the implementation of environmental regulations has changed from traditional approaches based on command and control towards new approaches based on participation and fewer penalties. The problems of coercive instruments in environmental protection became apparent, and the frameworks of policy instruments of legislative institutions began to change, and frameworks with a less punitive outlook were replaced and spread. Non-coercive instruments are not based on command and control strategies, and the government can develop the spirit of obedience in citizens through options such as participatory management and the involvement of resource users in management and policy development. Investigation of the studies related to the expansion of new political instruments in solving environmental problems shows that these studies can be divided into several general categories. The first category includes research that focuses on determining the instruments of legislative institutions when developing environmental laws and regulations. The second category includes research that compares the effectiveness of coercive and non-coercive instruments in reducing environmental issues and problems.
Purpose
Despite the value of all the studies that have examined regulatory instruments and coercive and non-coercive approaches in policymaking, which organizations and institutions are subjected to coercive and non-coercive instruments policies is a fundamental issue that has been paid less attention and requires more specialized studies. Therefore, this article has been compiled to fill this research gap. In other words, the purpose of this research is to show which organizations and institutions are subject to coercive and non-coercive policies in Iran's environmental laws.
Methods
The network analysis approach is a new method in multi-criteria decision-making that can be used to prioritize factors and criteria. In order to analyze the network of environmental laws and regulations and generate the primary data for this research, first all the words that indicate coercive and non-coercive policies, as well as organizations and institutions under compulsory and non-coercive policies, were extracted from the text of environmental laws and regulations. Then, a two-dimensional "word-organization" matrix was formed, the rows of which were coercive and non-coercive instruments words, and the columns of which were organizations and institutions under the coercive and non-coercive literature in-laws. In the next step, the degree centrality and between centrality indexes of coercive and non-coercive literature were calculated for each law using Ucinet software. The graphs of the degree centrality and between centrality indices of coercive and non-coercive literature were drawn using NetDraw software.
Research findings
Investigation of the graphs of the coercive network shows that the most diversity of coercive words is in the period of the implementation of land reforms until the Islamic Revolution (1963-1979), and the most institutions under coercive literature are during the periods of Rouhani's presidency (the twelfth government) (2013-2020) and the implementation of land reforms until the Islamic Revolution. Investigation of non-coercive graphs also shows that the most variety of non-coercive words is in the periods of the implementation of land reforms until the Islamic revolution (1979) and Reza Khan's coup until land reforms (1921-1963), And most institutions under non-coercive literature are in the periods of the implementation of land reforms until the Islamic revolution and the victory of the Islamic revolution until the end of the Iran‑Iraq war.
Conclusion
The legal and management structure of the environment and natural resources in Iran has a top-down view. But this coercive literature is mostly for non-state actors (people), and the "punishment" is mostly for non-state actors. Therefore, the most emphasis of the government in Iran is on the first aspect of environmental issues and problems. It is people's activities that cause environmental processes to be disturbed. Therefore, the flow of political science focuses on applying more coercion and pressure on people. In other words, legislative institutions use non-coercive literature more for government organizations and institutions, and the literature on coercion and punishment is used mostly for people and non-governmental organizations. Meanwhile, the government should apply the second aspect of the pressure framework. In other words, applying compulsory literature is appropriate when the government and government institutions also give their share in this deal. It means that it creates the idea that there will be no difference between those who follow and violate the law when environmental issues and problems arise. In other words, focus on an approach in which the government tries to encourage a kind of quasi-voluntary cooperation in a cooperative atmosphere. Also, the government creates a kind of balance between government institutions and non-government actors when applying coercive and non-coercive literature. These efforts of the government will maintain the balance, increasing the sense of trust in the government and creating a kind of quasi-voluntary obedience.

Keywords

• Quasi-voluntary compliance
• Non-state actors
• Command and control approaches
• Coercive and non-coercive policy
• Environmental management

Main Subjects

• Public Policy