Bottom-up Europeanization Exposed: The Anti-GMO movement in France

The current underdevelopment of bottom-up conceptual designs provides an opportunity to expose Europeanization research to mainstream political and social science tools (Exadaktylos and Radaelli, 2009). A research design based upon SMT (Social Movement Theory) is located within three variants of bottom-up Europeanization approaches currently found in the literature. It is used to analyse the empirical validity of the Europeanization of non-state actors in France. A qualitative assessment of the anti-GMO (genetically modified organism) movement reveals several important conclusions for future research in this area. In particular, potential explanatory variables are assessed from opportunity structures to resource capacities, framing processes, ideological views and the role of leadership.

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