Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Small Social Movement Organizations in Federal Conservation Policy since 1989

安德鲁·萨兹·道格拉斯·贝文顿加州大学圣克鲁斯分校本论文项目考察了1989至2004年间美国草根环境倡导组织和联邦环境政策的作用。这项研究探讨了在何种情况下，较小和更激进的社会运动组织可能会在政策影响力方面取代较大和更温和的组织。直到20世纪80年代末，联邦一级的环境倡导一直由大型、知名的主流组织主导，这些组织主要依靠“内部”战略施加政治影响。然而，到了20世纪90年代，大量新的、规模更小、更激进的环保组织涌入，他们使用的是“局外人”战略。本项目将解决两个研究问题：1)草根生物多样性保护组织如何能够增加他们对联邦政策的相对影响力？虽然这些基层团体都采用了“局外人”战略，但不同的团体在应用这一战略时采取了不同的方法(包括他们的战术和组织形式)。这些方法中哪一种最有影响力？为什么？为了审查第二个问题，该项目将对三个生物多样性保护运动中使用的方法进行比较分析，以评估它们的相对效力。这三个案例研究将根据社会运动动态中的六个关键变量进行审查：战略、战术、组织、资金、运动文化和外部条件。目前，关于基层生物多样性保护组织的研究成果很少。因此，这项研究将有助于我们理解环境运动中一个重要但未得到充分研究的发展。对于环境社会学家来说，这个项目提供了对最近生物多样性保护运动的动态的洞察。对于社会运动研究者来说，它有助于研究社会运动中激进和温和的社会运动组织之间的关系。对于政策分析家来说，这项研究更多地关注小型社会运动组织在政策制定过程中的作用。这项研究的发现可能会对更广泛的社区有用。对于研究资助基金会，它分析了不同资助战略对社会运动有效性的影响，对于那些关注环境可持续性的基金会，它深入分析了基层生物多样性运动的成功，并为更广泛地实施环境保护提供了一个模式。

Andrew SzaszDouglas BevingtonUniversity of California, Santa CruzThis dissertation project examines the role of grassroots environmental advocacy organizations and federal environmental policy in the United States from 1989 through 2004. The research explores the circumstances under which smaller and more radical social movement organizations could potentially displace larger and more moderate organizations in terms of policy influence. Up until the late 1980s, environmental advocacy at the federal level was dominated by large, well-known mainstream organizations that relied primarily on an "insider" strategy to exert political influence. However by the 1990s, there was a significant influx of new smaller and more radical environmental groups using "outsider" strategies. This project will address two research questions: 1.) How are grassroots biodiversity protection groups able to increase their relative influence on federal policy? 2.) While these grassroots groups shared an "outsider" strategy, different groups took different approaches (including their tactics and organizational forms) in applying this strategy. Which of these approaches were most influential and why? To examine the second question, the project will undertake a comparative analysis of the approaches used in three biodiversity protection campaigns in order to evaluate their relative effectiveness. These three case studies will be examined on the basis of six key variables in social movement dynamics: strategy, tactics, organization, funding, movement culture, and external conditions. Currently there are few published studies on grassroots biodiversity protection organizations. This study will thus contribute to our understanding of a significant but understudied development within the environmental movement. For environmental sociologists, this project offers insights into the dynamics of recent biodiversity protection campaigns. For social movement researchers, it contributes to the study of relationship between radical and moderate social movement organizations within a social movement. For policy analysts, this study gives increased attention to the role of small social movement organizations in the policy-making process. Findings from this research could potentially of use to a broader community. For research funding foundations, it offers an analysis of the impacts of different funding strategies on social movement effectiveness, and for those concerned with environmental sustainability, it provides an in-depth analysis of the success of grassroots biodiversity campaigns and a model for the implementation of environmental protections more broadly.