Between transnationalism and state power: the development of Russia's post-Soviet environmental movement

Transnational linkages are generally considered advantageous for environmental activists who face an unsympathetic government at home. Since the early 1990s, Russia's environmentalists have developed a number of transnational ties that have increased their leverage over the Russian government. However, transnational support interacts with domestic constraints on mobilisation in unpredictable ways, generating obstacles as well as opportunities. The recentralisation of state power in Russia has presented environmentalists with a dilemma as they attempt to engage constructively with state bodies that prioritise security and economic growth and have little tolerance for autonomous public mobilisation or transnationalism. A comparison of environmental mobilisation on the extraction of petroleum resources, climate change and forestry illustrates the power and limits of transnational influence on Russia's environmental movement in a context of renewed state authority and economic globalisation. Thus far, Russian environmentalists have found it easier to achieve rhetorical change than institutional change in environmental governance; institutional change appears most likely when environmental and economic goals coincide.