ABSTRACT
The success of modern environmentalism, following the ‘ecological revolution’ of the early 1970s, has long attracted the attention of social and political scientists. Recently, historians have also discovered this field of research. Modern environmentalism has frequently been analysed as part of the so-called ‘new social movements’ phenomenon, a concept which seeks to incorporate and interpret women’s, peace, and other organizations advocating ‘direct action’. These are stated to be heterogeneous, lacking a precise ideological world view and dedicated to limited and concrete goals. In addition, new social movements are characterized as anti-hierarchical. Novel forms of protest, and particularly civil disobedience, are deployed.1
