This thesis deals with the factors shaping forest policy output during the stages implementation and bases its main message on empirical findings from the forestry sector in Ghana. Policy and institutional factors are important underlying causes for deforestation, especially in the tropics. Forest policy reform is often used for mitigating this. Many reform initiatives, however, have outputs that deviate, at times substantially, from initial policy intentions. To examine how and why this is taking place the thesis takes point of departure in four cases of forest policy reform in Ghana and with a particular focus on the factors influencing reform output. The main message is that state actor decisions are central determinants for the ways in which reform output is shaped. It contests political economy theory by showing that these decisions are not only determined by state actors sole pursuit of power and personal benefits. Rather, the thesis shows how state actors decisions are shaped by a complex inter-relation of circumstances, interests and resources at play during the level of policy implementation. Thesis findings are based on collection and analysis of qualitative data collected from actors within government, civil society, timber industry and local communities and thus provides important contributions to the existing logic within the field of tropical forest governance.