What is the role of activism in air pollution politics? Understanding policy change in Poland

Abstract

There has been growing awareness across the world of the negative health effects of air pollution. Poland is the European country that is worst affected by this problem, and the Polish government has in recent years adopted a number of measures designed to reduce coal use. This paper explores the role of civil society activism in this shift, investigating the extent to which local activists played a catalytic role in shaping popular awareness of air pollution and accounting for policy developments in this area. We draw on individual-level data from two Eurobarometer surveys together with qualitative data from a series of original elite interviews and the analysis of related policy documents, and we find little evidence that activism was a driver of variations in local popular awareness of air pollution, but support for the supposition that activism played a major role in shaping policy change at local level.