Locking antlers: A ‘levels of conflict’ analysis of upland deer management in the Scottish Highlands
本文运用‘冲突层次’框架分析苏格兰高地鹿管理争议，揭示表面鹿数量问题背后隐藏的历史纠纷、不信任和身份认同等深层因素，为理解长期冲突提供新视角。
Conflicts over the use and management of rural land, wildlife and other natural resources tend to involve multiple layers of contention, beyond the issues that are most readily observable. We illustrate this in the case of upland deer management in the Scottish Highlands, which has been the subject of fierce debate for many years. Drawing on the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders and applying an adapted ‘levels of conflict’ framework, we show that whilst the superficial manifestation of this dispute concerns deer numbers, their impacts and methods of management, beneath this sit underlying factors of historical controversy, blame and mistrust between parties as well as tensions around the individual and collective identities of stakeholders in a changing rural landscape. The framework acts as a useful tool that reconfirms the complexities of this case whilst allowing them to be more easily understood, providing a fresh insight into this long-running issue.