| Summary: | Contemporary governance systems have been characterised as 'multi-actor' and 'multi-level', but the consequences of such greater complexity for core principles of democracy remain uncertain. To investigate the effects of these late-modern governance shifts, we used political decision making on Scottish reintroductions of charismatic animals as a case study. Based on interviews with key actors engaged in the reintroduction of the white-tailed eagle, beaver and (potentially) lynx, we analysed the impact of governance shifts against four selected democratic principles. We found that new modes of governance can make decision-making processes look better than they actually are, and may even harm democratic principles.
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