Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs EU ACCESSION AND CIVIL SOCIETY EMPOWERMENT: THE CASE OF MALTESE ENGOs Michael Briguglio Sociology 2013 A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements of the Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Malta. 1 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs Declaration I hereby declare that the work in the dissertation entitled “EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The case of Maltese ENGOs”, presented to the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta for the degree of Ph.D. in Sociology, during July 2013, is my own original work. Michael Briguglio 2 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs To my son David, for his unconditional love. 3 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs Abstract This thesis investigates whether European Union (EU) Accession has influenced civil society empowerment in Malta, with specific reference to Environmental NGOs (ENGOs). In particular, the study will examine whether Maltese ENGOs have experienced empowerment in the first years following EU accession. This study verifies (1) whether EU accession has effected lobbying of ENGOs; (2) whether EU accession has enhanced the empowerment of ENGOs; and (3) whether EU accession has led to the institutionalisation of ENGOs. This study analyzes the construction of environmental politics in relation to Malta’s EU accession. For this scope, discourse analysis was applied to engage with respondents from ENGOs and with specific case studies involving ENGOs in particular. A major conclusion that can be derived from this thesis is that EU accession has generally enhanced the empowerment of Maltese ENGOs, but this process was uneven, was combined with other overdetermining factors and depended on different issues and on different types of ENGO. ENGOs had greater access to opportunities that were unavailable prior to Malta’s EU accession. The construction or otherwise of hegemonic formations related to the 4 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs empowerment of ENGOs was related to sensitizing, procedural, structural and substantive impacts. Empowerment through hegemonic formations was not common, but ENGOs were successful in constructing nodal points and in benefitting from different types of impacts, especially sensitizing and procedural ones. Another important conclusion is that even though ENGO empowerment could also be related to their institutionalisation, this process is not pre-determined and does not exclude antagonism of such ENGOs to State structures and other social agents. Besides, the environmental movement remains characterised by both moderate and radical ideologies. 5 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Joseph Troisi, for his constant advice and support, and for carefully reading and correcting all texts which I have been sending him throughout the years. I would like to thank Dr David Howarth, my external advisor, for his theoretical and methodological inspiration, for reading the text and for his valuable advice. I would also like to thank Dr David Milne for his advice when I wrote the research proposal for this thesis. Special thanks to Prof Mark-Anthony Falzon, Head of the Sociology Department, and Ms Victoria Perici, in charge of my PhD bursary, for always being there, thus showing that the University of Malta really cares for its students and staff. 6 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs Table of Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 12 1.1 Objective ................................................................................................................. 12 1.2 Background ............................................................................................................. 13 1.3 The Rise of ENGOs ................................................................................................ 14 1.4 Research questions .................................................................................................. 16 1.5 Theoretical Foundations.......................................................................................... 17 1.6 Methodological Foundations .................................................................................. 17 1.7 Layout of the Thesis................................................................................................ 19 2 Theoretical Background ................................................................................................. 20 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 20 2.2 Sociology and the Environment .............................................................................. 20 2.2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Environmental Consciousness ......................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Sociology and Ecology .................................................................................... 23 2.2.4 Realism and Constructivism ............................................................................ 24 2.3 Discourse Theory and Hegemony ........................................................................... 28 2.3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 28 2.3.2 Articulation, Antagonism, Equivalence and Dislocation ................................. 28 2.3.3 Hegemonic Formations .................................................................................... 30 2.4 The State and Overdetermination ........................................................................... 33 2.4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 33 2.4.2 Sociological Theories of the State ................................................................... 33 2.4.3 Overdetermination ........................................................................................... 37 2.4.4 The State and Civil Society.............................................................................. 41 2.4.5 The State in a Globalised Context ................................................................... 45 2.5 Social Movements and Empowerment ................................................................... 47 2.5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 47 2.5.2 Sociological Theories of Social Movements ................................................... 47 2.5.3 Characteristics of Social Movements............................................................... 51 2.5.4 Social Contradictions of Our Times ................................................................ 53 2.5.5 Ideology, Agency and Identity ......................................................................... 56 2.5.6 Mobilization of Social Movements .................................................................. 61 2.5.7 Social Movement Empowerment ..................................................................... 65 2.5.8 The Institutionalisation of Social Movements ................................................. 71 2.6 ENGOs .................................................................................................................... 74 2.6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 74 2.6.2 Ideologies of ENGOs ...................................................................................... 75 2.6.3 Environmental Activism .................................................................................. 80 2.6.4 Empowerment and Institutionalisation of ENGOs ......................................... 84 2.6.5 The State and ENGOs ...................................................................................... 90 2.7 ENGOs in a European Union context ..................................................................... 92 2.7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 92 2.7.2 The European Union ........................................................................................ 92 7 Michael Briguglio (2013): EU Accession and Civil Society Empowerment: The Case of Maltese ENGOs 2.7.3 EU Policy Making and Governance ................................................................ 96 2.7.4 Civil Society and EU Governance ................................................................... 99 2.7.5 EU Environmental Policy .............................................................................. 101 2.7.6 ENGOs in the EU........................................................................................... 111 2.8 Conclusion: ENGO Empowerment in the EU ...................................................... 118 3. Environmental Politics in Malta