Political Opportunities and Policy Communities: Developing a Network Approach to State–Group Relations

Abstract

As we have seen from the previous chapter, attempts to understand the development of environmental movements, in France as elsewhere, need to be placed firmly within the context of the institutions and practices of the state. Indeed, the accounts of the evolution of political ecology in France given by Sainteny (1993) and Prendiville and Chafer (1990) are quite explicit here; the prevalent structure of political opportunities in the Fifth Republic are such, they argue, that the chances of success for environmental action are dependent upon the mutation of the social movement into an institutionalised, partisan formation. Moreover, it is commonly argued that since the formation of Les Verts, party organisation has not coexisted alongside a vibrant social movement; on the contrary, the former has displaced the latter. However, as the previous chapter has also argued, such assessments of the state of environmental politics in France belie the resurgence in grass-roots protest and activism which has taken place over the past ten years or so.KeywordsSocial MovementPolicy ProcessParty SystemOpportunity StructurePolicy SectorThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.