UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTALISM a Compa Ra Tive Perspective
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NONPROFIT AND CIVIL SOCIETY STUDIES An International Multidisciplinary Series UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTALISM A Compa ra tive Perspective GUNNAR GRENDSTAD, PER SELLE, ØYSTEIN BORTNE,AND KRISTIN STRØMSNES UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTALISM A Comparative Perspective NONPROFIT AND CIVIL SOCIETY STUDIES An International Multidisciplinary Series Series Editor: Helmut K. Anheier, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom and University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE PROFESSIONS IN EASTERN EUROPE: Social Change and Organizational Innovation in Poland S. Wojciech Sokolowski DILEMMAS OF THE WELFARE MIX: The New Structure of Welfare in an Era of Privatization Edited by Ugo Ascoli and Costanzo Ranci GLOBALIZATION, PHILANTHROPY, AND CIVIL SOCIETY Toward a New Political Culture in the Twenty-First Century Edited by Soma Hewa and Darwin H. Stapleton INNOVATION IN STRATEGIC PHILANTHROPY Local and Global Perspectives Edited by Helmut K. Anheier, Adele Simmons and David Winder NEIGHBORHOOD SELF-MANAGEMENT: Experiments in Civil Society Hillel Schmid PRIVATE FUNDS, PUBLIC PURPOSE: Philanthropic Foundations in International Perspective Edited by Helmut K. Anheier and Stefan Toepler THE PRIVATE NONPROFIT SECTOR: Measuring Its Impact on Society Edited by Patrice Flynn and Virginia Hodgkinson STRATEGY MIX FOR NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS Vehicles for Social and Labour Market Integration Edited by Annette Zimmer and Christina Stecker THE STUDY OF NONPROFIT ENTERPRISE Theories and Approaches Edited by Helmut K. Anheier and Avner Ben-Ner UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTALISM A Comparative Perspective Gunnar Grendstad, Per Selle, Kristin Strømsnes and Øystein Bortne THE VALUES OF VOLUNTEERING Cross-Cultural Perspective Edited by Paul Dekker and Loek Halman WORKFORCE TRANSITIONS FROM THE PROFIT TO THE NONPROFIT SECTOR Tobie S. Stein A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTALISM A Comparative Perspective Gunnar Grendstad, Per Selle, and Kristin Strømsnes University of Bergen Bergen, Norway and Øystein Bortne University of Stavanger Stavanger, Norway Gunnar Grendstad Per Selle Department of Comparative Politics Stein Rokkan Centre University of Bergen University of Bergen Bergen 5007 Bergen 5007 NORWAY NORWAY [email protected] [email protected] Øystein Bortne Kristin Strømsnes University of Stavanger Stein Rokkan Centre Stavanger 4021 University of Bergen NORWAY Bergen 5007 [email protected] NORWAY [email protected] Library of Congress Control Number: 2005936369 ISBN-10: 0-387-30524-6 e-ISBN 0-387-30525-4 ISBN-13: 978-0387-30524-0 Printed on acid-free paper. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaption, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed in the United States of America. (SPI/IBT) 987654321 springer.com Contents Chapter 1: In Defense of Uniqueness 1 Data 3 The Structure of the Book 5 Part I: Perspectives on Unique Environmentalism 7 Chapter 2: The Two Anomalies 9 The Misconceptions of Norwegian Environmentalism 9 An Inclusive Polity in a State-Friendly Society 14 The Local Community Perspective 21 Two Anomalies Make a Unique Case 27 Chapter 3: The Organizational Setting: Early History and Later Developments 31 Introduction 31 Early History and the Classical Period: 1914–1963 33 The Establishment: 1963–1969 37 Breakthrough and Politization: 1969–1981 38 Recession: 1981–1988 42 Prosperity: 1988–1993 44 Stagnation and Increased Contestation in the 1990s 47 A Classification of 12 Environmental Organizations 49 Part II: The Environmentalists. Who They Are, How They Think, and How They Behave 53 Chapter 4: Who Are the Environmentalists? 55 Introduction 55 Gender 55 v vi Contents Age 57 Education 58 Income 60 Public Versus Private Sector 60 Residence 61 Conclusion 63 Chapter 5: Environmentalists Without an Attitude 64 Introduction 64 From Right to Left 65 Postmaterialism 69 Grid–Group Theory 72 Anthropocentrism Versus Ecocentrism 74 Technology and Religion 80 Conclusion 83 Chapter 6: Political and Environmental Behavior 86 Introduction 86 Political Behavior 87 Environmental Behavior 90 Purity and Danger 94 The Attitude–Behavior Correspondence 96 Conclusion 99 Part III: The Local Community Perspective in the State-Friendly Society 101 Chapter 7: The Local Community Perspective 103 Introduction 103 Center–Periphery and the View on Nature 104 The Exclusion of Animal Rights from Environmentalism 108 Animal Rights Attitudes: Two Legs Good 112 Conclusion 119 Chapter 8: The State-Friendly Society 122 Introduction 122 The Financial Dilemma of Organized Environmentalism 123 Between Fragmentation and Unity 125 Relationship with the Authorities 127 Organizational Measures for Environmental Ends 128 Most Important Area to Affect 130 Decision-making and Decentralization 131 Trust in Institutions 133 Accepting the Issue—Dismissing the Agent 135 Organized Environmentalism and Democracy 143 Contents vii Democracy Inside Organizations 145 Democracy External to Organizations 149 Conclusion 151 Chapter 9: Withering Uniqueness? 154 Introduction 154 Organized Environmentalists Are Almost Like People in General 156 Balancing Between State and Local Communities 158 Withering Uniqueness? 163 References 170 Acknowledgments 182 Appendix A: Sample Weights 183 Appendix B: Internet Addresses 185 Index 187 Chapter 1 In Defense of Uniqueness In analyzing environmentalism in Western democracies, researchers have paid much attention to similarities across nations and findings common to most countries. This strategy is plausible given the relatively new status of the field of environmentalism. Now that environmentalism is more established, we venture a different approach. We intend to examine the way organized environmentalism, environmental beliefs, and behaviors are configured in a country that does not easily fit into the general assumptions behind the definitions of environmentalism that has been generated by the bulk of “continental” or “Anglo-Saxon” literature.1 Our intention is to explain and demonstrate that the Norwegian case of environ- mentalism is unique and anomalous. Our study is also one of a specific political culture with a rather unique combination of state structure and civil society. Organized environmentalism is an important and integrated part of this political culture. More generally, our study addresses the role of civil society and volun- tary organizations in a specific type of democracy. In comparing our perspective and findings to studies from other political systems, we want to throw light on why the workings of the Norwegian political system—and, by extension, the Scandinavian political systems—are often misunderstood in the international literature. Without understanding core characteristics of this particular political system and how these characteristics are interrelated one cannot understand the structure and content of Norwegian environmentalism and of Norwegian politics in general. To appreciate the uniqueness of our Norwegian case and to underscore what we believe is the value of our approach, throughout the book we will relate our perspective and findings to two new and important studies of European and 1 Although continental and Anglo-Saxon countries might differ between themselves as to environmental ideas and perception of the state, the Norwegian case as well as the other Scandinavian cases differ from both sets of countries. The uniqueness makes Norway most different within a broad international context but less different when compared to other Scandinavian countries, whose political institutions are shaped through a braided history. Norway was in union with Denmark and Sweden from 1397 to 1523, with Denmark alone until 1814, and then with Sweden until 1905. 1 2 1. In Defense of Uniqueness American environmentalism. One study is by John Dryzek and colleagues (2003). This study—Green States and Social Movements—is a comparison of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Norway. The other study is by a team led by Christopher Rootes (2003). In the volume, the authors study and compare seven major countries: Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain (including a separate chapter on The Basque country), and Sweden. One of the fascinating aspects of comparing our study to these volumes, we believe, is that the Dryzek study includes the case of Norway, whereas the Rootes study includes the case of Sweden. This comparison provides us with the opportunity to show that the Dryzek study has gotten the Norwegian case wrong and that Norway has less in common with neighboring Sweden than the Rootes study might lead us to expect. Together, the broad and general perspectives