Thesis (M.A.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Oct. 22, 2009). Thesis advisor: Sherry Cable. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2008. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Feb. 26, 2009). Thesis advisor: Mark Littmann. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 29, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-64).

In this dissertation, I examine the role of private sector engagement in environmental governance. The relationship between mainstream environmentalism and the private sector has moved from one of general hostility to one of constructive engagement in recent times. As a result, the traditional distinctions between environmental non-governmental organizations and private corporations have become blurred, making way for public-private hybrids, facilitated by frameworks of philanthropy, sponsorship, and corporate social responsibility. Connected to these broader reconfigurations in environmental governance are simultaneous alterations in the normative framework of mainstream environmentalism. Ideologically, environmental policy and neoliberalism are now intertwined, entangling assumptions about nature and culture, and reflected in the popularization of environmental protection mechanisms that are deeply embedded in the values of the market economy. Analyzing particular examples of such engagements, and informed by Gramscian theory, I analyze the connections between rising corporate presence in mainstream environmentalism and broader normative and practical change, focusing, in particular, on the frameworks of ecomodernism and the Green Economy. I argue that contemporary private sector engagement in environmentalism leads to the support, production and construction of powerful environmentalisms: environmental ideologies and practices that gain power from, not in spite of, prevailing dominant interests. As such, these powerful environmentalisms tend to produce and reproduce elite processes of capitalist production and prioritize instrumental norms of human-nature relations, while marginalizing others. I conclude by outlining suggestions in support of a democratic environmental politics that represents and recognizes a more diverse array of actors, human-nature relationships, and frameworks of environmental care.

This study is a qualitative investigation, the study is focused on the Swedish political party the Left Party and the party’s environmental politics. Previous research has shown that former traditional socialist parties have been greening over time, a phenomenon called greening of the left. Socialist parties are emphasising a strict and radical environmental politics such as deep ecological politics to stop climate change and overthrow capitalism. At the same time, traditional right-left politics seem to belong in the 20th century, and the new politics is now identified as the GAL-TAN scale. The purpose of this study is to analyse the Swedish Left Party using idea and ideology analysis to see what kind of environmental politics the Left Party is currently implementing, and whether there has been a change over time. The results of the study is that the Left Party has implemented a deep ecology type of environmental politics, and that there has been a change over time where the Left Party first implemented ecologism, and have slowly over the past 30 years moved towards deep ecology. Thus, the conclusion of this study is that the Swedish Left Party is yet another example of greening of the left. / Denna studie behandlar Vänsterpartiet och Vänsterpartiets förhållande till miljöpolitik. Tidigare forskning inom vänsterpartiers förhållande till miljöpolitik visar att vänsterpartier tenderar att bedriva en djupekologisk miljöpolitik. Tidigare forskning visar även att vänsterpartier över tid har rört sig mot den djupekologiska politiken, ett fenomen som kallas greening of the left. Tidigare forskning visar även att traditionell höger-vänster politik inte alltid är applicerbart, och den nya metoden att kategorisera politiska partier är GAL-TAN skalan. Syftet med denna studie är att besvara två forskningsfrågor rörande vilken typ av miljöpolitik Vänsterpartiet bedriver, och huruvida det finns ett skifte över tid. Metoden som använts för studien är idé och ideologianalys. Resultatet för studien visar att Vänsterpartiet i dagsläget bedriver en djupekologisk miljöpolitik, och att det har förekommit ett skifte över tid. Vänsterpartiet bedrev från början en miljöpolitik som liknar ekologism, och har de senaste 30 åren gått mot djupekologi. Slutsatsen är således att Vänsterpartiet går i samklang med den internationella forskningen, och kan därför ses som ett bidrag till nuvarande forskning.

In 1979, a handful of Nevada state officials sparked a movement to transfer the large unappropriated domain to the western states. For two years what became known as the Sagebrush Rebellion swept across the American West like brushfire, engaging westerners of all stripes in a heated dispute over the question of the public lands. In Utah, as elsewhere in the West, public officials, rural ranchers, miners, developers, academics, environmentalists, and concerned citizens joined the debate and staked sides. This episode underscored western relationships between people and nature and featured contests over competing ideologies in the West. But it probably did more harm than good in solving the problems of the West and even further polarized westerners against themselves. After just two years in the limelight, the Sagebrush Rebellion unspectacularly faded into public memory, partly as a result of environmental opposition but mostly because Ronald Reagan's administration steered public land policy in a new direction. Interior Secretary James Watt took steps to appease disgruntled westerners by loosening federal regulations on the public lands, but he opposed any efforts for a large-scale transfer. Thus the Sagebrush Rebellion ultimately failed; but still today the sentiment and conflicts that propelled it persist, continuing to color the panorama that is the American West.

Law / Thesis (LL.M.)--University of South Africa, 1997.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Over the last four decades national environmental groups have become an important means of political participation for many British citizens. Since the mid-1980s these organizations have established a number of local groups. There are still some gaps in our understanding of these groups, particularly relating to participation at the grass-roots level. This investigation examines the British environmental movement, focusing on those who become coordinators of local groups, and attempts to find the correlates of their environmental activism. The research reviews the existing empirical data relating to environmental activism, and theoretical accounts relating to participation. It also considers the significance of the emergence of postmaterial values, and looks at the theoretical framework that informs environmental activism. The hypothesis that the conservation and ecology movements are effectively sub-groups within the broader ecology movement is tested, and the thesis explores the possibility that those who participate in these movements have different socio-demographic and cognitive profiles, and methods of activism. The history and development of environmentalism in Britain is discussed, revealing the fundamental differences between the conservation and ecology movements. To test the hypothesis a national, internet based, questionnaire was conducted. In total, 380 activists were surveyed, all of whom were coordinators of local environmental groups that were affiliated to one of six nationally prominent environmental organisations. The findings of the research indicated that although many national environmental organizations seem to have become closer together in terms of their core beliefs and objectives. There are some notable differences between conservationists and ecologists at the grass-roots level, particularly in relation to sociopsychological variables, and means of participation.