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Between Grassroots Activism and transnational aspirations: anti-nuclear protest from the Rhine Valley to the Bundestag, 1974-1983
Zwischen Graswurzel-Aktivismus und transnationalen Bestrebungen: die Anti-Atombewegung vom Rheintal bis in den Bundestag, 1974-1983
[journal article]
Abstract "In the mid-1970s, French, German, and Swiss protesters jointly occupied the Wyhl nuclear reactor construction site in the Upper Rhine Valley. Even at the grassroots level, transnational cooperation allowed reactor opponents to transcend the limits of politics-as-usual and adopt 'new' protest strate... view more
"In the mid-1970s, French, German, and Swiss protesters jointly occupied the Wyhl nuclear reactor construction site in the Upper Rhine Valley. Even at the grassroots level, transnational cooperation allowed reactor opponents to transcend the limits of politics-as-usual and adopt 'new' protest strategies. Moreover, though it was minutely local, the Wyhl occupation had significant transnational effects. Activists throughout Europe and even across the Atlantic considered this protest to influence the situation in their home countries. They were eager to build on the 'example of Wyhl'. Yet, as this article shows, activists beyond the Rhine had a hard time deploying transnationalism in the mass anti-nuclear protests and political campaigns that followed Wyhl. The West German Greens' 1979 European Parliament campaign is perhaps the best example of the way that activists inspired by Rhenish protests continued to emphasize transnationalism. Despite their European outlook, however, the Greens' first major political success came in Bonn, not Strasbourg. Thus, for the Greens and many others transnational thinking proved difficult to sustain beyond the grassroots level. It may have been most effective as a means of reinvigorating national politics." (author's abstract)... view less
Keywords
Greens; antinuclear movement; Bundestag; transnationalization; nuclear power plant; European Parliament; Federal Republic of Germany; nuclear energy; protest movement; environmental policy; environmental protection
Classification
Ecology, Environment
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Method
descriptive study; historical
Document language
English
Publication Year
2014
Page/Pages
p. 191-211
Journal
Historical Social Research, 39 (2014) 1
Issue topic
Global protest against nuclear power
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12759/hsr.39.2014.1.191-211
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed