Southern European Environmental Movements in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Differential national responses to the European Union's environmental policy have led to the idea that two worlds of environmentalism exist in Europe. In its harsh version, Europe is divided into North and South, with the South suffering from a Mediterranean syndrome. Southern European countries are viewed as environmental laggards, a perception attributed to, among other factors, a weak civil society intertwined with political systems characterized by patronage, clientelism, and lack of respect for public authority. This article provides new evidence documenting that civil society in Greece, Italy, and Spain appears to be much stronger on environmental matters than anticipated by the proponents of the above view. It also offers an alternative theorization of environmental politics, emphasizing aspects of organizational structures and political processes

The effects of the Fukushima disaster on nuclear energy debates and policies: a two-step comparative examination

“…The 12 countries under examination differ significantly concerning the range of political opportunities expected to intervene in the intensity and following of anti-nuclear mobilisation (see an overview in Müller and Thurner 2017). The conditions for large-scale anti-nuclear mobilisation were ideal in Italy and Germany, as the majority of the public in both countries was clearly against nuclear energy (Eurobarometer 2011), both countries had experienced large-scale anti-nuclear protests after the Chernobyl accident (Kolb 2007;Kousis et al 2008Kousis et al : 1632, some major political parties opposed nuclear energy, and there was an active ongoing phasing-in (Italy) and phasing-out (Germany) debate taking place in both countries (Jahn and Korolczuk 2012).…”

Key Issues in the Study of New and Alternative Social Movements in Spain: The Left, Identity and Globalizing Processes

“…Kousis, Della Porta and Jiménez (2001) are aware of this fact. They are also well aware of a comparative study of mobilizations during the 1980s that includes Spain (Koopmans 1996), in which it is convincingly argued that the high level of unconventional participation in Spain during that period is inversely related to the low levels of associational membership.…”

“…These scholars took issue with certain components of the MS thesis that operate as explanatory variables, especially the low level of associationalism that seems to characterize Southern Europeans. In a relatively recent paper, Kousis, Della Porta and Jiménez (2001), through their work on environmental protest in Southern Europe for the TEA (Transformation of Environmental Activism) project, have argued that the incidence of environmental protest in the countries of the European south not only does not lag behind that experienced by their Northern European counterparts but often exceeds it,…”

“…In addition, the high levels of NSM-related unconventional mobilization in Spain can be mainly attributed to one mobilizing issue, the anti-NATO campaign. What one might be tempted, therefore, to say, about the conclusions that Kousis, Della Porta and Jiménez (2001) have drawn about Southern European 'civil societies', is that their NSMs in general and the environmental movement in particular have failed to act as an effective interlocutor between the state and society and therefore are not 'strong' . They are, though, influenced by the emphasis given to unconventional political participation, including protest activities, in the NSM literature and by the most recent work by Pérez-Diaz (1999), who promotes the view that 'civil society' in Spain is not weaker than Northern European 'civil societies' but of a lesser typical-quantifiable-texture that cannot be measured by associational membership indicators.…”

Environmental protest in New Zealand (1997–2010)

“…Although engagement and protest are not mutually exclusive, the trend towards professionalization can lead to lower levels of protest in exchange for access. By contrast, grassroots groups are often obliged to adopt confrontation or spectacle to be noticed, as they do not have the same access and relationships with actors within the state (Kousis, della Porta and Jimenez ). These divisions in scale and method therefore indicate distinct parts of the broader environmental movement, with an expectation that local and less formal groups will be more likely to undertake unconventional actions than more established organizations.…”