The Environmental Movement in Ireland - Hardcover

Collective responses to Ireland’s dramatic transformation from a primarily agrarian and rural society to an industrialised economy obsessed by rapid growth and development occurred in two phases:

Phase One took place between the "No Nukes" protests of the late 1970’s when campaigns targeted multinational plants or infrastructural projects perceived as a pollution threat during years of economic stagnation.

Phase Two occurred after economic buoyancy was achieved, as the demands of rapid growth threatened communities, the environment and Irish heritage in the face of major infrastructural projects such as roads, incinerators and gas pipelines.

Starting with the Woodquay protests in Dublin, the "No Nukes" protests at Carnsore Point, the "Shell to Sea" campaign in Mayo and the campaign to save Tara from destruction, these significant ecological campaigns, based on the community’s localised sense of place or rural sentiment, have formed the response to these challenges which are analysed here using social movement theories such as resource mobilisation, political opportunity, framing and event analysis.

Dr. Liam Leonard (BA; M. Phil; PhD) Researcher and International Academic Consultant, based in California, USA. Previously, Liam has been Chair of the Criminology Association of Ireland and former President of the Sociology Association of Ireland. He lectures Sociology, Criminology, Politics, Human Rights, Penology/Prison Studies, Sustainability and Environmental Issues, Social Movements, Social Capital, Professional Development and Equality & Diversity. The author/editor of over ten books and numerous journal articles, he is Senior Editor of the Ecopolitics Books Series, the Advances in Sustainability and Environmental Justice Book Series (both with Emerald UK) and Founding Editor of the CRIMSOC Journal of Social Criminology.
Dr. Leonard has edited the 2011 Irish issue of the Prison Journal, as well as special issues of Environmental Politics and the Irish Journal of Sociology. Dr. Leonard was awarded the Sage Publishing Research Excellence Award in New York as well as the NAIRTL Research & Teaching Award in 2012, and has over twelve years experience as an academic and lecturer in the National University of Ireland and the Irish Institute of Technology sectors.
He has given papers at the European Sociology Association, European Criminology Association, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the European Group for Crime & Deviance and the Irish Sociology and Irish Criminology Conferences. Dr. Leonard sits on the editorial boards of several academic journals, including the Prison Journal and the Journal of Criminal Psychology. Since June 2013, Dr. Leonard has lived in Orange County, California, where he edits the SOC: Sociology in Orange County resource page.