Environmentalism and political participation in five West European states

This research asks why individuals are involved in activity to protect the environment. It does so by exploring the correlates of green behavior in five West European states--the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands--utilizing data from Eurobarometer 25 (1986). Specifically, it employs three theories of political participation--the socioeconomic model, the value orientations model and an ideological model--to examine several forms of behavior that may be taken by individuals to express a desire to protect the environment attitudes: associational activity, information gathering and distributing activity, issue involvement activity, local initiatives, protest, and personal household activity. It is posited that the three theories interact and modify one another in their explanation of environmentally-concerned political behavior