Organisational Change in Western European Environmental Groups: A Framework for Analysis

We present a framework to analyse organisational changes among environmental groups in Western Europe since the 1980s. A more diversified range of organisational models emerges than the simple dichotomy ‘grassroots protest group vs. professional lobby’. We concentrate on four organisational types, based on different organisational responses to problems of resource mobilisation and political efficacy: public interest lobby, participatory protest organisation, professional protest organisation, and the participatory pressure group. We discuss trends towards professionalisation in the context of changes to the public sphere, and point out risks that hyperprofessionalisation may entail for environmental groups.