Theoretical Perspectives on European Environmental Movements: Transnational and Technological Challenges in the 21st Century

European environmental movements have been the object of diverse theoretical and conceptual perspectives.  This chapter traces the origin of European research on the environmental movement within this multi-faceted literature as well as its link to North American studies. It also illustrates how European environmental movement studies have developed within and beyond national contexts, and the extent to which they are influenced by Europeanisation processes. Finally it highlights the movement’s new challenges, especially the impacts of rapid developing technologies and increasing inequalities, calling for sharpened analytical conceptual and theoretical tools for the study of environmental contention in an era of crises.