Environmental Mobilization and Resource-Opportunity Usage: The Examples of WWF-France, FNE and LPO in Policy Processes

Abstract

Environmental mobilization in France is traditionally characterized by both small and large-scale manifestations against a seemingly all-powerful state apparatus. From protests against the establishment of nuclear power stations in the 1970s to more recent counter-globalization marches, environmental actors are often portrayed by French politics as reactionary, aggrieved and intransigent. However, this paper argues that environmental activists in France pursue highly sophisticated mobilization strategies in their attempt to influence policy-specific issues. It explores the activities of three environmental associations active in France: World Wildlife Fund France, France Nature Environnement and la Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux. A theoretical framework based on 'policy opportunity windows' allows us to fully appreciate the strategic repertoire of such groups. It is argued, above all, that a resource analysis offers important explanatory power for understanding an increasingly proactive, competitive and multi-actor environmental movement.

Inconsistencies in Activists’ Behaviours and the Ethics of NGOs

“…In order to achieve their objective of influencing the corporation's leaders over sensitive issues in decision making, NGOs' tactics operate on three levels: on the level of the primary stakeholders, especially consumers and employees, on the level of public opinion, and on the level of the regulators and lawmakers. To reinforce their claims, pressure groups make use of political resources in a pressurising strategy (Dahan, 2005) using various tactics (Winston, 2002) and highly sophisticated mobilisation strategies (McCauley, 2007;Gereffi et al, 2001). In this interaction, power or the threat to use power, plays an important role (Jonker and Nijhof, 2006).…”

“…They indirectly increase their power through the acquisition of resources by forming alliances and through the bargaining dynamic (Doh and Teegen, 2002). NGOs depend heavily on their ability to mobilise regulators and the media to achieve their goals (Baron, 2005;Ionescu-Somers, 2006, p. 33;McCauley, 2007). They build their legitimacy through this reputation, and they are able to set the immediate agenda through the urgency they instil through their actions.…”

Chasing the green buck? Environmental activism in post-communist Baltic States

“…Within this wider framework, the contribution of environmental groups to policy implementation has been analysed extensively (Crotty, 2006;Rootes, 2002), yet mostly in terms of self-declared goals. Previous scholarship focused on ENGOs narratives about the environment and practices of nature protection (Carmin and Vandeveer, 2004), their impact on communities affected (Fagan and Sircar, 2011) and groups' management of available financial resources (McCauley, 2007). Like in other socialist states and republics of Central Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, Baltic environmental movements rallied on democratic platforms and are believed to have brought political liberalisation and state independence (Baker and Jehlicka, 1998).…”

Opening up or Closing Down Radioactive Waste Management Policy? Debates on Reversibility and Retrievability in Finland, France, and the United Kingdom

“…Recent opinion surveys also suggest a slight decline in citizens' trust in NGOs as a channel of citizen influence (as compared to political parties) (Paloheimo 2006, 145-146). It seems, by contrast, that both the British and the French NGOs have managed to play along two different registers-that of radical activism on the one hand, and highly professional "reformist" lobby activities founded on expertise on the other (e.g., McCauley 2007). In France, despite the highly ambiguous attitudes of both citizens and authorities towards NGOs, partly rooted in the general distaste for interest groups (McCauley 2007;Saurugger 2007), the prevailing strong "grassroots romanticism" has helped to bring about vibrant civil society activism.…”

“…It seems, by contrast, that both the British and the French NGOs have managed to play along two different registers-that of radical activism on the one hand, and highly professional "reformist" lobby activities founded on expertise on the other (e.g., McCauley 2007). In France, despite the highly ambiguous attitudes of both citizens and authorities towards NGOs, partly rooted in the general distaste for interest groups (McCauley 2007;Saurugger 2007), the prevailing strong "grassroots romanticism" has helped to bring about vibrant civil society activism. In the area of nuclear energy, such activism has been manifest in the renewed polarization of public debate since the creation of a country-wide antinuclear NGO network, "Réseau sortir du nucléaire," at the end of 1998 (e.g., Chateauraynaud, Bertrand, and Fourniau 2005).…”