Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1996. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-212).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, The Divinity School, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Political Science, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Friends of the Earth International (FoE!) is a federation of 76 'national' non-governmental organisations. The overall question of the thesis is: What are the processes by which FoEI activists come to accept that FoEI, and national FoE member-groups, exist and have effect as entities? The thesis is an ethnographic exploration of how these organisations are constituted, maintained and have effects in the world. The project addresses two shortcomings in current social science. First, studies of environmentalism in anthropology have so far largely focused on subordinate groups or on the inhabitants of particular areas facing environmental issues, rather than on international arenas of environmental activism. Second, much of the literature on globalization in social theory remains detached from people's daily experiences. This thesis compensates for these shortcomings by focusing on an international environmental federation and by grounding theoretical discussions of globalisation in which environmentalism is given a central place. The thesis interrogates claims of 'global environmentalism' ethnographically through a phenomenological framework. Anthropological approaches to macro-scale issues have either discarded or struggled with phenomenology due to its apparently inherent micro-scale approach. I propose a synthesis of the approaches of Ingold, Latour and Haraway that I call ecological phenomenology. This synthesis provides a theoretical framework within which a range of scales can be taken into account. In the course of my argument, I develop three concepts to map and explore the simultaneous workings of impersonal structure and personal agency. These are: fields offorces, vectors and direction of attention. I propose to substitute these notions for the more traditional notion of 'relations' in anthropology. The interplay of vectors more precisely explains how the various types of entities (including supra-personal institutions) that FoE activists encounter are formed, the agency they exert, as well as the effectiveness of activists' personal power in dealing with them.

The proliferation of green parties on the European political landscape in recent decades has prompted much debate concerning the explanation of their emergence and the factors considered to influence their varying levels of electoral success. This thesis critically examines a number of perspectives and concepts drawn from the sociological and political studies literatures which shed light on these two key issues. Through a comparison of green party politics in Austria, Britain and the Netherlands, the thesis challenges the assessment of those who maintain that the emergence and/or electoral success of green parties can be understood principally in terms of the theory of 'post-materialist' value change, or in terms of the shift to 'post-industrial' society. Drawing on contemporary studies of 'high-consequence' risks, it argues for an alternative approach to understanding the emergence of green parties which is rooted in processes of social and global environmental change that have taken place during the post-war period. The question of green party electoral success is examined by means of the organisation of a variety of political and institutional factors into four overarching themes: political state-institutional structures, electoral dealignment and political competition, modes of interest representation, and internal dynamics. It is contended that attention to each of these can yield important insights into the conditions which have impacted on the electoral significance of green parties in Austria, Britain and the Netherlands. The final part of the thesis develops a new, ecologically informed approach to the emergence of green parties based primarily upon a reworking and synthesis of themes explored in previous chapters.

Thesis (PhD.Sci. & Tech.)--Liberty University, 2003.

Thesis (PH.D.)--Syracuse University, 2003. / "Publication number AAT 3099532."

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 290-302). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Environmentalism, like any other noteworthy social movement, has been met with some resistance. Opposition to this movement has come both from the general public and from organized anti-environmental groups. The closeness, or lack thereof, between the organized groups' messages and those of the public has yet to be clearly defined. Given that organized groups are often more capable of getting their message out to a larger audience, it is important to know to what extent the thoughts and ideas they put forward are representative of those of the public. Without examining this relationship, responding to anti-environmental sentiment in the public will be difficult.In an effort to understand opposition towards environmentalism in the general public, this project examined the blogosphere. Anti-environmental weblog (blog) postings were subjected to a content analysis in order to reveal common themes present within them. The specific focus of the analysis was on the manner in which environmentalism was portrayed by its opponents, as opposed to points of factual disagreement. Comparisons were then made to the arguments of the organized anti-environmentalism factions, and a more complete picture of the opposition toward environmentalism was constructed. From this basis, recommendations for a response to anti-environmental sentiment from leaders in the area of sustainable development were given.