The Protest Business: Mobilizing Campaign Groups (Issues in Environmental Politics) Book

The central concern of this study is to examine why people choose to join campaigning groups such as Friends of the Earth or Amnesty International, in preference to political parties. Particular emphasis, however, is given to environmental campaign groups. Environmental issues gained increasing political importance in the 1980s, and the environment is subsequently mentioned in almost every policy development. There is now a high level of public interest in the proliferation of environmental pressure groups. In this new study of two of the best known campaigning groups Grant Jordan and William Maloney ask: why do people choose to join Friends of the Earth or Amnesty International? Who joins? How are they targeted? Why do some leave? Drawing on many British and American sources, and original survey data, the authors discuss the significance of such participation for democracy, and comment on the current commitment of the public to campaigning.Read More