Environmental Organizations in Modern Germany Hardy Survivors in the Twentieth Century and Beyond

About this book

German environmental organizations have doggedly pursued environmental protection through difficult times: hyperinflation and war, National Socialist rule, postwar devastation, state socialism in the GDR, and confrontation with the authorities during the 1970s and 1980s. The author recounts the fascinating and sometimes dramatic story of these organizations from their origins at the end of the nineteenth century to the present, with an analysis of the issues and strategic decisions that confront them at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

The book describes how environmental organizations reacted to powerful social movements, including the homeland protection and socialist movements in the early years of the twentieth century, the Nazi movement, and the anti-nuclear and new social movements of the 1970s and 1980s, but it also examines their strategies for survival in periods like the current one, when environmental concerns are not at the top of the national agenda.

The book joins a growing body of literature about environmental organizations in the U.S. and the UK but is the first book in English about environmental organizations in a non-English speaking country. Previous analyses of environmental organizations have almost invariably viewed them as parts of larger social structures, that is, as components of social movements, as interest groups within a political system, or as contributors to civil society. This book, by contrast, starts from the premise that through the use of theories developed specifically to analyze the behavior of organizations and NGOs we can gain additional insight into why environmental organizations behave as they do.

Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Chapter 1. Environmental Organizations: Theoretical Considerations Chapter 2. The Origins of Nature Protection Organizations in Germany: Conservative Reactionaries, Protectors of Nature, and Social Democracy at the Beginning of the Century Chapter 3. Nazism, the War, and Its Aftermath: The Causes and Consequences of Right Wing Ecology Chapter 4. Confrontation and Counterculture: Ecology from the Left in a Turbulent Era Chapter 5. Nature and Environmental Protection Eastern Style: Environmental Organizations in the German Democratic Republic Chapter 6. New Challenges at Century's End Chapter 7. The Social Context of Environmental Organizations at the Beginning of a New Century Chapter 8. Major Environmental Organizations in Germany: Four Profiles Chapter 9. Dilemmas of Internal Structure: Professionalization and Centralization Chapter 10. Dilemmas of Resource Acquisition: The Perils of Fundraising Chapter 11. Dilemmas of Goals and Strategies: Confrontation, Cooperation, and Competition Chapter 12. Concluding Observations References Index

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Biography

William T. Markham is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is author of two books and numerous journal articles on the sociology of organizations, social inequality, non-governmental organizations, and environmental sociology. He has held visiting appointments at Humboldt University, the University of Essen, and Wageningen University and received two Fulbright awards. He is also co-editor of a recent book on nature protection in Western nations.