Book Description

This book makes a long overdue contribution to the ongoing debate on the role of nature protection organizations and networks. The editors have brought together eleven respected sociologists to trace and evaluate the links between nature protection organizations and society in eight European countries and the United States. Using analytical frameworks ranging from organization theory to social movements approaches, the authors describe the social networks that organizations promoting nature protection have woven, which, in turn, have helped many of them to survive and adapt to changing political and economic circumstances. Uncovering these strategies is crucial to understanding how environmental issues are being dealt with via new forms of governance today. The book will be very useful to scholars in organizational studies, social movements, environmental sociology, and environmental politics. Matthias Gross, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig, Germany By examining the evolution, role, and influence of nature protection organizations and networks in eight European countries and the United States, this book addresses a long-standing gap in comparative research on Western Environmentalism. It will appeal to all scholars and students with an interest in environmentalism, nature protection, and social movement studies. Lars H. Gulbrandsen, the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway This book offers a comparative analysis of organizations and networks involved in nature protection in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the UK and the USA. It traces their development from their origins, more than a century ago, to the present day. Throughout this period, nature protection has remained an enduring concern to civil society and continues to be a major stream within environmentalism. However, strategies, public support, and political success vary greatly among the countries studied. Combining rich empirical evidence and theoretical analysis, the book sheds light on the important challenges nature protection faces today. Providing a detailed description of all the major nature protection organizations and networks, including overviews of their current membership, activities, and as far as available, budgets, Protecting Nature will be of great interest to lecturers and postgraduate students in social science fields, as well as researchers in the fields of environmental policy, environmental NGOs, social movements, civil society, nature management and policy. Members of nature protection, environmental and other civil society organizations who seek a better understanding of the historical development of nature protection organizations and networks, as well as the strategies employed by those organizations, will also find much to interest them in this book.