Greening Democracy - The Anti Nuclear Movement Political Environmentalism in West Germany

This book reveals how concerns about nuclear reactors made ordinary people into environmentalists and promoted democratic engagement in West Germany during the 1970s.

List of contents

Introduction: taking the democratic dimensions of antinuclear activism; 1. 'Today the fish, tomorrow us:' the threatened Upper Rhine and the grassroots origins of West European environmentalism; 2. A different watch on the Rhine: how antinuclear activists imagined the Alemannic community and united a region in resistance; 3. Onto the site and into significance? The Wyhl Occupation in its contexts, from Strasbourg to Kaiseraugst and Constance to Kiel; 4. 'Wyhl and then what ...?' Between grassroots activism and mass protest; 5. Political questions, grassroots answers: shaping an environmental approach to electoral politics; 6. Organizing a 'decisive battle against nuclear power plants': Europe and the nationalization of Green politics in West Germany; Conclusion: protesting nuclear energy, Greening democracy.

About the author

Stephen Milder is an Assistant Professor of Politics and Society in the Department of European Languages and Cultures, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands.

Summary

Greening Democracy explains how nuclear energy became a seminal political issue and motivated democratic engagement in West Germany during the 1970s. It charts how anti-nuclear protest became the basis for citizens' increasing engagement in self-governance, expanding conceptions of democracy beyond electoral politics and helping to make quotidian personal concerns political.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Milder, Stephen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Milder, MILDER STEPHEN
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2019
• EAN: 9781316501061
• ISBN: 978-1-316-50106-1
• No. of pages: 298
• Series: New Studies in European Histor; New Studies in European History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Social impact of environmental issues, Environmentalist, Conservationist & Green Organizations, Environmentalist, conservationist and Green organizations