| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
125513
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2013.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
We study the contribution of environmental groups to new technology adoption and diffusion by dominant incumbents. Building on institutional and social movement theory, we develop a theoretical framework that sheds light on environmental groups as change-actors. We theorize that by approaching embedded key constituents with various strategic actions, environmental groups affect taken-for-granted beliefs, build legitimacy for renewable energy technologies, and convince skeptical constituents to support the new technology. We verify our theoretical framework with a case study of wind power development in Colorado. We find that environmentalists educate constituents on the benefits of the new technology, engage in activities leading to regulatory and legislative decisions for wind, while also providing direct assistance to the utility. As a result, utilities are both pressured and encouraged to adopt and diffuse wind power on a large-scale. This research directs attention to the role of environmental groups as change-actors and the legitimating effects of their actions. It highlights their part in creating a more favorable institutional environment for new technologies while directly influencing the incumbent?s technology choice. This paper contributes to an understanding of bottom-up, actor-initiated changes in energy systems taking into account both the systemic technological infrastructure and the institutional context.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
ID:
133651
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2014.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
We analyze forms of environmental activism that eschew the "information and socialization" politics typically associated with Transnational Advocacy Groups (TAGs) and instead favor direct, confrontational strategies, whose aim is to enforce international law. While mainstream TAGs typically seek influence through norm entrepreneurship, lobbying or "naming and shaming", what we label Direct Enforcement (DE) intervenes directly to halt (purportedly) illegal practices by states and private actors. DE activism has been most visible in transnational campaigns to protect endangered marine species, where environmental groups have resorted to damaging equipment used for illegal fishing and boarding fishing boats to enforce maritime conservation law. Often branded as eco-terrorism, such confrontational strategies have been largely ignored by scholarly literature on transnational activism. We contend that DE merits closer attention by IR-scholars for two reasons. First, DE activism plays an important role in enhancing the compliance pull of international laws in an area-the global environment-where states often lack capacity and political will to enforce international agreements. Second, an analysis of DE-activism provides important insights about issue selection and relative campaign success under different structural circumstances, thereby expanding our understanding of transnational advocacy more generally.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|