What is the Role of Activism in Air Pollution Politics? Understanding Policy Change in Poland

Tomas Maltby; Adam Fagan; Sarah Birch; Mate Subašić

doi:10.1177/23996544241231677

What is the Role of Activism in Air Pollution Politics? Understanding Policy Change in Poland

Tomas Maltby, Adam Fagan, Sarah Birch, Mate Subašić

Manchester Metropolitan University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There has been growing awareness across the world of the negative health effects of air pollution. Poland is the European country that is worst affected by this problem, and the Polish government has in recent years adopted a number of measures designed to reduce coal use. This paper explores the role of civil society activism in this shift, investigating the extent to which local activists played a catalytic role in shaping popular awareness of air pollution and accounting for policy developments in this area. We draw on individual-level data from two Eurobarometer surveys together with qualitative data from a series of original elite interviews and the analysis of related policy documents, and we find little evidence that activism was a driver of variations in local popular awareness of air pollution, but support for the supposition that activism played a major role in shaping policy change at local level.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1332-1351
Number of pages	20
Journal	Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space
Volume	42
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544241231677
Publication status	Published - 16 Feb 2024

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https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23996544241231677

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title = "What is the Role of Activism in Air Pollution Politics? Understanding Policy Change in Poland",

abstract = "There has been growing awareness across the world of the negative health effects of air pollution. Poland is the European country that is worst affected by this problem, and the Polish government has in recent years adopted a number of measures designed to reduce coal use. This paper explores the role of civil society activism in this shift, investigating the extent to which local activists played a catalytic role in shaping popular awareness of air pollution and accounting for policy developments in this area. We draw on individual-level data from two Eurobarometer surveys together with qualitative data from a series of original elite interviews and the analysis of related policy documents, and we find little evidence that activism was a driver of variations in local popular awareness of air pollution, but support for the supposition that activism played a major role in shaping policy change at local level.",

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What is the Role of Activism in Air Pollution Politics? Understanding Policy Change in Poland

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