“Us versus them” mentalities in co‐managing a Natura 2000 forest: Narratives, identities, and a culture of conflict

Multistakeholder co‐management is no blueprint for smooth and accepted environmental policy implementation. Parallel processes of cooperation and conflict rather shape co‐managing processes, which is the focus of this article. Combining the analysis of narratives, identities, and relational structure through means of social network analysis builds the conceptual and methodological foundation for this case study to explore a perpetual conflict between actors involved in co‐designing the management plans for a local Natura 2000 forest. Two opposing narratives are identified as competing over power and competency in discussions about the management plans for the Natura 2000 forest. Negative characterization frames and antagonizing with the other side fuels an “us versus them” mentality among the actors in the co‐management process and over time, a culture of conflict has become institutionalized. Interactions between the actors from the case study seemingly build on a complex, iterative pattern of disputes that is barely breakable and reversible into cooperative attitudes. Surprisingly, this culture of conflict does not resonate with the relational structure between actors in the case study as descriptive social network analysis shows. This case represents an intriguing puzzle pointing to an incongruence between relational and discursive mechanisms underlying cooperation‐conflict dynamics in multistakeholder co‐management, which is relevant for future examinations of cooperation and conflict in social network analyses. The results are discussed in light of power dynamics and concluded with an outlook to conflict research.