The New Environmentalism?

'Torsello's work is rich in stimulating analysis of the theoretical literature on contentious social movements yet firmly grounded in his ethnography of environmentalist organizations in Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Italy. His deliberate attention to historical local/global boundaries and relations gives new meaning and utility to concepts of civil society and political corruption.' Peter Schneider, Fordham University, USA 'In making the case that we cannot understand environmental activism without analyzing the politics of the ’in-between,’ Torsello brings to light the complex layers of decision making that preceded each of the large-scale projects discussed... Torsello has arrived at an original discovery. Based on interviews and participant observation, he proposes that environmentalist activists have much to gain from raising corruption as an issue. Discursive strategies that expose corrupt practices are often more compelling than appeals to environmental degradation when it comes to mobilizing a wide public, politicizing citizens’ demands for ’sustainable’ development, and forcing politicians, otherwise pressured by the hegemony of neo-liberal capitalism, to take notice. Why this is, and what it means, are among the fascinating questions this book engages; its author is correct to position himself as introducing a ’new perspective’ on environmentalism.' Urbanities: The Journal of the IUAES Commission on Urban Anthropology