Exeunt chased by Bear: Structure, action, and the environmental opposition to the Somport tunnel

Abstract

Studies of environmental protest in France have tended to emphasise the great difficulties experienced by groups in gaining positive policy outcomes. One set of explanations offered is that the ‘political opportunities’ available to such groups are highly limited given the strength, centralisation, and concentration of power in the French state. Yet existing opportunity structure models neglect the effects of Europeanisation and decentralisation on the French policy process. This analysis looks at the effects of these dynamics on the organisation of protest against one contemporary high‐profile infrastructural project, the Somport tunnel. It argues that decentralisation ‐ particularly to regional level ‐ has not only changed the basis of infrastructure development, but has, crucially, served to legitimise policy outcomes. As a consequence, protesters have been constrained in their ability to aggregate dissent, and thus to create the pressure necessary for successful outcomes.