(political) System Change, not Climate Change. The political evaluations of radical environmental activists
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2023-07-13
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en
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In December 2019, the Dutch chapter of Extinction Rebellion (XR) rebellion was founded. This self-proclaimed radical environmental organization has since then used disruptive but peaceful protests to demand a change in the democratic process, and more climate mitigation policy. The apotheoses of these protests so far, have been the blockade of Dutch highways and parts of airports. While there is this growing environmental movement, that is willing to use progressively radical strategies, there is no research done that unravels the way these protesters are evaluating the political system. Therefore this study focuses on precisely this group of radical activists. Using a Grounded Theory approach to thirteen in-depth interviews done in the same period as the protests are being held, this research shows that a new group of discontented Dutch citizens has arisen. Who support democracy as an ideal but not its practical functioning due to the incapability of the system to adequately respond to the climate crisis. Signifying a relationship between the perception of the material impact of the climate crisis and political support and highlighting the emergence of a new low support postmaterialism , which I classify as neopostmaterialism
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen