Public participation and environmental impact assessment in Romania: The case of Ro¿ia Montan¿. A call for the institutionalisation of public participation.

摘要

In this thesis I develop a critical theory of public participation anduddeliberation in post-communist Romania. Primarily, this theory is developedudfrom a critical assessment of two intermediate-level Romanian institutions: theuddeliberative system that has formed to debate the authorisation of a proposedudgold mining project in Ro¿ia Montan¿, Romania and the legitimacy claims of theudseries of hybrid forums that were convened as part of that project¿sudEnvironmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The hybrid forum legitimacy claimsudwere assessed based on a standard of hybrid forum legitimacy developed inudthis thesis from deliberative democracy theory and practice. Grounded in newudinstitutionalism theory, this thesis describes the historical and contemporaryudsocio-economic conditions that have shaped Romanian public participation anduddeliberation.