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Sayōnara Nukes - Development, Mobilisation Strategies and Organisation of Anti-Nuclear Protest in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima Accident

Niggemeier, Jan (2015) In Working papers in contemporary Asian studies
Abstract
Broad public contention against nuclear energy can be observed as a new phenomenon in Japanese society after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. This study aimed to identify a sufficient explanation about why the emergence of such a protest movement only occurred after the

direct experience of a critical event and did not happen before. Discrediting a sole and simple grievance-based argumentation, the analysis took into account underlying environmental and structural factors with a potential impact on protest development. A strategy of scrutinising in-field observations and

findings in appliance of classical approaches of social movement theory provided the best possible outcome. As a primal finding,... (More)
Broad public contention against nuclear energy can be observed as a new phenomenon in Japanese society after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. This study aimed to identify a sufficient explanation about why the emergence of such a protest movement only occurred after the

direct experience of a critical event and did not happen before. Discrediting a sole and simple grievance-based argumentation, the analysis took into account underlying environmental and structural factors with a potential impact on protest development. A strategy of scrutinising in-field observations and

findings in appliance of classical approaches of social movement theory provided the best possible outcome. As a primal finding, the recent emergence of protest could be mainly attributed to the opening up of novel political opportunities, newly accessed parts of society as additional mobilisable

resources, but most of all to an effective application of framing strategies.Nevertheless, explanatory factors were also found outside of the covered range of the theoretical framework, such as the apparent characterisation of the protests as a New Social Movement. Although this initiated a discussion about

the underlying model's adequacy, its suitability was generally proved by its rich repertoire of explication in this particular case. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Japan, Fukushima, anti-nuclear protest, political opportunities, resource mobilisation, framing, nuclear energy
in
Working papers in contemporary Asian studies
issue
48
pages
48 pages
publisher
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
ISSN
1652-4128
ISBN
978-91-980900-8-6
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
7e02a765-cbcb-4118-89bd-2fdd507a75f4 (old id 5050845)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:52:57
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:09:56
@misc{7e02a765-cbcb-4118-89bd-2fdd507a75f4,
  abstract     = {{Broad public contention against nuclear energy can be observed as a new phenomenon in Japanese society after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. This study aimed to identify a sufficient explanation about why the emergence of such a protest movement only occurred after the<br/><br>
direct experience of a critical event and did not happen before. Discrediting a sole and simple grievance-based argumentation, the analysis took into account underlying environmental and structural factors with a potential impact on protest development. A strategy of scrutinising in-field observations and<br/><br>
findings in appliance of classical approaches of social movement theory provided the best possible outcome. As a primal finding, the recent emergence of protest could be mainly attributed to the opening up of novel political opportunities, newly accessed parts of society as additional mobilisable<br/><br>
resources, but most of all to an effective application of framing strategies.Nevertheless, explanatory factors were also found outside of the covered range of the theoretical framework, such as the apparent characterisation of the protests as a New Social Movement. Although this initiated a discussion about<br/><br>
the underlying model's adequacy, its suitability was generally proved by its rich repertoire of explication in this particular case.}},
  author       = {{Niggemeier, Jan}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-980900-8-6}},
  issn         = {{1652-4128}},
  keywords     = {{Japan; Fukushima; anti-nuclear protest; political opportunities; resource mobilisation; framing; nuclear energy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{48}},
  publisher    = {{Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University}},
  series       = {{Working papers in contemporary Asian studies}},
  title        = {{Sayōnara Nukes - Development, Mobilisation Strategies and Organisation of Anti-Nuclear Protest in Japan after the 2011 Fukushima Accident}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3026726/5050849.pdf}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}