Policy integration is a challenging process that involves the renegotiation of interests, beliefs, and sectoral policy boundaries. In this paper we introduce European forest policy as an arena that is characterized by a policy (dis)integration paradox. On the one hand, the need for better coordination and integration of fragmented policies is frequently expressed. On the other hand, little has been achieved in terms of policy integration despite several initiatives. Drawing on fifty semistructured interviews with European forest policy makers and participatory observation, we assess, firstly, effects of and reasons for the disintegration paradox and, secondly, the strategic importance of distinct forest policy initiatives that are legitimized by the need for better policy integration. Our data demonstrate that the forest policy (dis)integration paradox can be explained by different factors, with economic interests and sectoral and institutional competition being most important. Under such circumstances, policy integration serves as frequently used rhetoric to consolidate sectoral interests; however, substance-wise, it is simply not happening.

This paper reviews the design of the international forest governance and policy, and analyses its impacts in addressing deforestation and forest degradation as global sustainability issues. Informed by literatures on international relations, regulatory governance of global commodity production, and international pathways of domestic influence, key arrangements are aggregated into six types, and mapped in terms of their main aims, instruments, and implementation mechanisms. Key analytical dimensions, such as the actors involved (state–private–mixed), the character of legal authority (legally binding–non-legally binding), and the geopolitical scope (global–transnational) helped to identify the potential and limitations of arrangements. They were assessed and compared in terms of their main pathways of influence such as international hard-law rules, cross-sectoral policy integration, non-legally binding norms and discourses, global market mechanisms, and direct access through capacity building. Our results reveal important challenges in the design and implementation, and in the pathways of influence, of the forest governance arrangements, including major inconsistencies with forest-adverse economic sectors. We conclude about the need for coherent international forest-related policy cooperation and integrative actions in agriculture, bioenergy, and mining to enhance the prospects of achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

European forest policymaking is shaped by progressing European integration, yet with notable ideological divisions and diverging interests among countries. This paper focuses on the coalitional politics of key environmental forest issues: biodiversity conservation, timber legality, and climate protection policy. Combining the Advocacy Coalition Framework and the Shifting Coalition Theory, and informed by more than 186 key informant interviews and 73 policy documents spanning a 20-year timeframe, we examine the evolution of coalitional forest politics in Europe. We find that the basic line-up has remained stable: an environmental coalition supporting EU environmental forest policy integration and a forest sector coalition mostly opposing it. Still, strategic alliances across these coalitions have occurred for specific policy issues which have resulted in a gradual establishment of an EU environmental forest policy. We conclude with discussion of our findings and provide suggestions for further research.