Environmental Movement Interventions in Tourism and Energy Development in the North Atlantic

Abstract

This article compares environmental movement engagement in energy and tourism development in Norway and Iceland by bridging the social movement societies (SMSoc) and the players and arenas perspectives. Results are based on field observation and interviews, as well as web-based textual analysis and a preliminary online survey. Results show that Norway is an institutionalized and multi-level social movement society with a mix of professionalized and grassroots local, national, and international organization. Iceland, by contrast, is a national and episodic social movement society where movement players operate at a national scale and engage in project-specific collaboration or opposition in tourism or energy development arenas. This analysis demonstrates the value of bridging the SMSoc and players and arenas perspectives for international comparative social movements research.