Consensual Resistance and Farmers' Protest against Globalisation - Resistance against Agrarian (Green) Biotechnology in Austria and France

The article compares key actors and mobilization strategies of the Austrian and French anti-biotechnology movements. While, regarding public opinion and government policy, both countries are among the EU's most avid biotechnology opponents, their national protest movements are characterized by striking differences: In the Austrian case, professional environmental organisations are vocal in public debate while groups of critical farmers work rather behind the scenes. In France, by contrast, peasant activists lead a radical protest movement that looms large to this day. The comparison sheds light on the diversity of new social movements in general, and on the impact of rural actors and agricultural policies on anti-biotechnology movements in more particular. This highlights the significance of national agricultural policies in context of EU multi-level governance and assesses two contrary national movements.