The Divergent Trajectory of Environmental Politics between the United States and the United Kingdom

This study examines factors affecting the divergent environmental performances between the U.S. and the U.K. from the perspective of social movement. I look into domestic political factors, especially social movements causing different environmental performances in two countries that attain the high level of economic growth and are under the same international factors. Given that previous research dealing with domestic political factors tends to focus on political institutions and that the comparative research on the cases of the U.S. and the U.K. are limited, this research is relevant. I utilize the EPI scores, protest data, public opinion data and party manifestos. I conclude that the strong connection of environmental movement with political parties, less dispersive social movement agendas, favorable conditions from the EU and relatively weak anti-environmental movement led Britain to making a better environmental performance than the U.S.