Thirdly, the internal organization of the field is
characterized mostly by flat structures, but also by
having some hierarchical elements. The flat structure
relates partly to the scientific openness, which gives
the individual researcher much freedom to choose
subjects and good chances of having research results
published, and partly to the possibility for active and
committed people to build up local activities under the
heading of ecological economics. The reputational
organization of ecological economics could and still
can be used as backing for local initiatives, which
have been more or less successful as reflected in the
number of members in different countries. The local
activities imply that large national differences in
priorities, activities and composition of scientific
disciplines represented have developed, although
modern ecological economics was first institutionalized
as an international society. The strategic dependence
is thus low, but simultaneously the international
society has, and in particular had, hierarchical
elements with power concentrated on relatively few
people, which is particularly important in relation to
the journal and other publication outlets.