This article reveals the existence of a so-called "ghost policy" (informal tradition and/or obsolete policy rules) that resists new official policy concerning the management of natural resources in Sweden. These ghost policies are often ignored by decision makers in the Swedish policy making process inhibiting, therefore, viable and legitimate solutions to the profound negative consequences that costly local conflicts of interest have on democracy. These conflicts of interest expose and represent a classic and current problem intrinsic to the communitarian policy process in Sweden. That is, since the Swedish policy process has a blind spot, that is it focuses on the views of experts and interest organisations, it, subsequently, overlooks the perceptions of those stakeholders (in this case game hunters) affected by policy. This situation undermines the policy's goals since they are alien to local tradition. Furthermore, not just the existence and ubiquity of ghost policies, but even social facts such as the physical size and membership of an organisation were found to influence conflicts of interest. This implies that a more legitimate policy process is necessary. Therefore, the Swedish policy process ought to include collaborations with locals and social engineering. This will lead to a more legitimate natural resource management in rural Swedish settings.