Management of Norwegian reindeer husbandry: User-group participation, corporatism, co-operation and legal pluralism. Ph.D-project: Birgitte Ulvevadet Ecosystem management imply clear objectives, integrated planning and inclusion of resource users to increase legitimacy of governance (ref Ecosystem Management). The government has implemented two different management models in order to increase participation of reindeer herders. On the one hand, there is a corporative management model where a few democratically elected reindeer owners represent the whole industry in annual negotiations with the government. On the other hand, there is a co-management model where reindeer owners are represented in boards at local, regional and national level to which the government has delegated management functions. In addition, there is also a hierarchical administrative management system with public officials, many with family background from reindeer herder communities. This study focuses on the interaction between these organisational units within the Norwegian management system of reindeer husbandry. When organisational units are tightly interwoven with all the others in a mutually interdependent system as it is in reindeer husbandry, management is difficult and costly. It is a challenge to include the most important stakeholder groups in co-management boards and to obtain the legitimacy required to manage efficiently. The government has faced the challenge of legal pluralism (as best as it can) by including informal traditional legislation into current law, and organises annual negotiations with the industrial interest organisation of reindeer husbandry. In addition, the government offers a spectre of economic subsidies in order to reach its different goals in the industry. The management system is organised in such a complex way that policies could be hard to implement, regardless of the policy instruments used. Moreover, given the large differences in reindeer herding practices, standardised polices may seem unfair to many reindeer owners.