Environmental and animal oriented radicalization: walking a different path?

This chapter starts with a discussion of radicalism as a concept. Thereafter, it provides an overview of some of the key writings on radicalization and applies this theoretical material to the main radical environmental and animal liberation movement (REALM) groups’ experiences. Then a general overview of these groups’ ideologies and philosophies, in particular their attitudes toward the use of political violence, identifying both similarities and differences, is outlined. The chapter include a brief examination of the development of the most significant REALM groups of the last 50 years, with particular emphasis on their creation, structures, individual philosophies, and the particular strategies and tactics they adopted to achieve their stated goals. The chapter concludes by reiterating our findings, explains why such groups did not develop into a mass movement, and observes that the conditions for environmental radicalism have not disappeared and may well occur again.