From Mobilization to Institutionalization? The Case of Norwegian Environmentalism

Abstract

A widespread view contends that, in due course, political mobilization gives way to institutionalization; that is, vibrant movements turn into rigid hierarchic organizations. In the aftermath of the political radicalization of the 1960s and 1970s, the literature on social movements announced that this impasse' belonged to the past: new social movements were taken to be anti-bureaucratic and anti-hierarchical; representing a new historical subject, beyond Marxist determinism, yet retaining a certain leftist-liberalist political imprint. More recently, an almost diametrically opposed contention seems to have gained hegemony: the (new) social movements are becoming institutionalized and are being incorporated, or even co-opted, by the 'establishment'. These general statements stand in glaring contrast to the theoretical progress made within contemporary social movement theory, and accordingly, the purpose of this article is to contribute to a more nuanced approach to the phenomenon of institutionalization of social movements', on both a theoretical and an empirical level. Against the backdrop of a short review of literature in the field, a theoretical framework is introduced: institutionalization as an open and multidimensional process, encompassing structural, normative and cognitive elements. Thereafter, this typology is applied in order to study institutionalization as part of a wider context. In one section the Norwegian case is introduced and includes the descriptive empirical analyses: how are Norwegian environmental organizations institutionalized Thereafter, the context of institutionalization is studied: which strategies are chosen in order to gain influence. and what are the prevalent political ideological orientations? A final section summarizes and discusses the empirical findings in light of the theoretical framework