Search results for ""Author Adam Fagan""

Since a handful of environmental activists helped to bring down the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, the arena of environmental politics has offered a valuable lens on the transition process, providing a unique insight into the contradictory and highly contingent relationship between democratisation and neo-liberalism. Environment and Democracy in the Czech Republic offers a radical perspective on the democratisation process, revealing the extent to which the consolidation of a politically efficacious and diverse civil society is far more complex than the earlier generation of commentators acknowledged. The environmental movement has not flourished under political democracy; its radical activists have been marginalized and targeted by the state, their ideologies and strategies compromised and their critical voice silenced. Yet the book concludes that whilst the mainstream environmental movement has become institutionalised and appears incapable of representing community interests, the environmental issue retains the capacity to mobilise, this time against the neo-liberal agenda of the democratic government.This definitive account of the evolution of the Czech environmental movement since 1990 offers a radical evaluation of the institutions and practice of political democracy, and challenges some of the certainties of social movement theory. Although focused on the Czech Republic, the book will undoubtedly contribute to a better understanding of the role of environmental movements within contemporary politics throughout the world. It will be welcomed by political and social scientists with an interest in Central and Eastern Europe, and academics and students with an interest in environmental politics.

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Studies of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union (“Brexit”) have largely focused on the role of politicians and political parties, on the one hand, and the characteristics of Leave and Remain voters on the other. The Failure of Remain offers the first comprehensive study of the UK’s grassroots anti-Brexit movement. Emerging in the weeks and months following the June 2016 referendum, this movement was the most significant and wide-scale mobilization of pro-European support that the UK had ever witnessed. In The Failure of Remain Adam Fagan and Stijn van Kessel assess participants’ ideologies, arguments, and strategies. Drawing evidence from first-hand interviews, an original survey of anti-Brexit activists, and an analysis of their campaign materials, Fagan and van Kessel conclude that while the anti-Brexit movement was successful in mobilizing a large number of pro-European citizens, its impact was limited by weak links to political elites and institutions, divisions between organizations and activists, and the absence of a clear stance on the UK’s relationship with the European Union. In the context of enduring debates about the future direction of European integration, The Failure of Remain reveals the difficulties of formulating effective pro-European arguments.

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