Political Strategies of American Environmentalism: Inclusion and Beyond

Abstract

This article examines and evaluates the strategy of inclusion used by the environmental movement in the United States in light of the imperatives of state action. We try to explain why it is that the United States was the pioneer of environmental policy in the 1970s, but has since become the international laggard. Given the changed position of the state, we try to sort out when particular strategies on the part of the environmental movement make sense in terms of promoting a more ecological society. In addition to inclusion in state processes as an interest group, we examine environmental action in an oppositional civil society, dual strategies, and the possibility of a move toward ecological modernization by both the movement and the state.