Why cooperate? Cooperation among environmental groups in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany

This study asks under what domestic conditions environmental groups in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will overcome the collective action, resource, and ideological impediments to cooperative activity. A political opportunity structure (POS) approach is employed which looks at the relationship between elite alliances and domestic cleavages and the choice to engage in domestic as well as transnational cooperation. Using data gathered through content analysis over a nearly twenty-five year period, I find that changes in domestic opportunities influence the choice of environmental groups to engage in cooperative activities. An open POS is found to depress both domestic and transnational cooperation, while a closed POS increases cooperative activities.