Browsing by Author "O'Brien, T"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Camping, climbing trees and marching to Parliament: spatial dimensions of environmental protest in New Zealand
    (Taylor and Francis, 2015-04-16) O'Brien, T
    Environmental movements are key actors in challenging social and political constructions of the physical environment. A wide variety of protest campaigns have been undertaken in New Zealand, from local issues of pollution and road building through to national opposition to native forest logging and genetic engineering (GE). The aim of this paper is to examine the scales at which environmental protest in New Zealand have taken place and the impact upon the actions and durability of environmental campaigns. Through an analysis of a catalogue of protest events over the period 1997–2013, this paper describes patterns of actions, before examining the campaigns against GE field trials and mineral extraction in more detail. The findings point to the importance of cross-scale operations in enabling campaigns to capitalise on and respond to changes in the external environment including governance structures, resources and countermovement actors.
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    A Comparison of Leadership in Controlled Military Democratisation
    (Political Studies Association, 2016-03-23) O'Brien, T
    Military coup d’état displace civilian regimes in the name of cleaning up, but such actions can also challenge the coherence of the military by undermining the recognition of governing institutions. The decision of military regimes to relinquish power from a position of strength and move towards democracy is conditioned by a number of factors, requiring the leader to navigate between the perceived need to maintain political order and military professionalism. This paper considers regime change in Ecuador and Niger as cases of conversion, where elites were able to maintain control in the face of relatively weak organised opposition. The aims of the paper are to (1) determine the factors that can initiate democratisation of military regimes and (2) identify the role of leaders in shaping the process. It is argued that the relative durability of the subsequent regime is determined by the ability of the outgoing military regime to find suitable opposition to maintain order and resist the temptation to return to politics.
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    Environmental Democratisation: Assessing the Impact of Democratisation on Environmental Capacity in South and Southeastern Europe
    (Sage, 2014-02-17) O'Brien, T
    While a connection between democratic political systems and state environmental capacity has been established, the effects of democratisation on environmental capacity are less clear. The paper considers the relationship between democratisation and environmental capacity in Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Romania. All saw improvements in environmental capacity during democratisation, aided by the EU, but there are areas where capacity remains weak. These cases provide an opportunity to consider how different regime type (authoritarian and totalitarian) and mode of transition (negotiated and convulsive) enhance or restrict the development of environmental capacity. The paper argues that clear benefits for environmental capacity do arise from democratisation; however these advances are restricted by the continuation of attitudes and practices (legacies) from the non-democratic period. It also argues that variations in regime type and mode of transition have little impact on the development of environmental capacity
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    Growing Green Democracy? Barriers to Ecological Modernization in Democratizing States
    (Wiley, 2013-07) O'Brien, T
    Ecological modernization has established an important position in the field of environmental politics. The adoption of technocratic solutions to environmental challenges is attractive to policymakers. Ecological modernization enables such an approach, in combination with mechanisms for participation and reflexive policy development. However, there are questions regarding the applicability of the concept to political contexts differing from those in the Northern European states in which it first emerged. This paper examines the challenges associated with adopting ecological modernization in the context of democratization and draws on analysis of the development of environmental politics in Bulgaria to illustrate the difficulties identified. The findings suggest that the adoption of ecological modernization during a period of democratization may lead to the hardening of closed technocratic policy-making, limiting wider participation and preventing the development of stronger and more reflexive forms of ecological modernization.
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    Human (in)security and democracy in Central America
    (Taylor and Francis, 2015-10-09) O'Brien, T
    Human security has increasingly shifted attention to the individual, while the state has become guarantor (or violator) of security given its role in governing the domestic environment. This article examines how variations in regime forms influence security, pointing to the importance of political security in the wider human security framework. To illustrate, the article examines the nature of political security in Central America, a region with weakly democratized states and histories of political violence. The findings suggest a link between democracy and human security that is mediated by state capacity and the ability to control non-state violence against individuals.
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    Populism, protest and democracy in the twenty-first century
    (Taylor and Francis, 2016-09) O'Brien, T
    Protest is an important measure of discontent within society and can be seen as a form of politics by other means. In periods of uncertainty and instability, protest can harm incumbent regimes by heightening and amplifying tensions, potentially leading to crisis and collapse in extreme cases. The wave of democratisation that characterised the last quarter of the 20th century saw a number of weak democracies emerge and struggle, whereas other regime changes saw new forms of authoritarianism emerge. Crises in the early 21st century have shaken both democratic and non-democratic states, leading to large-scale ‘occupy’ movements and uprisings that have brought down regimes in the former Soviet Union and across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)1 region. Common to these diverse protests is a feeling of anti-politics that draws on populist and religious motivations to challenge the state. The aim of this paper is to consider the significance of this apparent wave of protest and identify the driving factors. In order to do this the paper examines arguments around the quality of democracy (and autocracy), state-social movement interactions and the rise of populist and religious movements.
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    Social control and trust in the New Zealand Environmental Movement
    (Sage, 2013-01-03) O'Brien, T
    Escalating concern regarding environmental issues has resulted in an increase in the number and scope of environmental movements internationally. The diversity and proactive nature of these movements has put pressure on public (state) actors to address challenges and engage with movement actors. Engagement is not universally positive and can lead to attempts at disruption or subversion of challenging movements. This article examines the impact of perceived state subversion on trust within the New Zealand environmental movement through the alleged use of spies. The analysis finds that short-term emotional reactions within the movement that led to questioning of relationships were outweighed by longer-term pragmatic view about the need to maintain collective action
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    Tree-Maiming to Crop Destruction: Considering a Re-Emerging Repertoire
    (Political Studies Association, 2015-04-01) O'Brien, T
    Property destruction has been a key part of the protest repertoire in Western Europe (and further afield) throughout history. Such acts have represented the physical manifestation of opposition to perceived inequalities in society, ranging from actions of groups such as the Luddites through to spontaneous food riots. Although these actions can be portrayed as unthinking and solely focused on destruction, it is important to consider underlying claim being made through the action. This paper draws on a catalogue of protest events to consider the wave of crop trashing that took place in the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The aim is to locate these actions in the broader tradition of destruction targeting flora to determine the extent to which these actions can be seen as representing a traditional form of action and consider the degree of continuity in the underlying motives.
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    Urban movements in neoliberal Europe
    (Taylor and Francis, 2017-10-24) O'Brien, T