Social norms, rationales and policies: reframing farmland protection in Israel

This paper analyzes the role of legitimization processes in the struggle ov er farmland protection policies in Israel. In the early sixties a centraliz ed farmland protection program was institutionalized, curtailing private la nd owners' and leaseholders' property rights on farmlands. The legitimacy a ccorded to such measures is explained as a function of the congruence betwe en social norms, power structure and dominant ideology at the time. Then, t he paper follows the changes in power, ideology, social norms, sanctioned d iscourse and the role of agriculture in the economy. These changes undermin ed the basis of the farmland protection rationales, and led to a crisis of legitimacy in the early nineties. As a result of several institutional and policy shifts in the early nineties, a time of rapid growth, concern shifte d to the implications of growth for the future of open spaces. This concern over the loss of positive externalities was shared by environmentalists, u rban and exurban consumption interests. planners and several elements withi n the rural establishment. As a result a new set of plans was introduced. F ocusing on the central district; where the most severe development pressure s are felt, the paper compares the sanctioned discourse and use of rational es in the new- plans and documents to those of previous plans. These plans focus on averting the loss of positive externalities, rather than productiv e capacity, and are couched in economic terms, rather than ideological term s, reflecting the shift in language of the sanctioned discourse. It shows t hat the choice of rationales for legitimizing countryside conservation refl ects the struggle over rural landscapes, as the rationales are used to cobb le a coalition of planners, environmentalists, farmers. urbanites and exurb anites, against a powerful development coalition. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.