Neue soziale Bewegungen#

New Social Movements, collective name for all movements which have since the early 1970s increasingly queried the justification of the political monopoly of parties and economic interest groups and called for self-determination, grass-roots democracy and spontaneity in political life, such as local initiatives and environmental, anti-nuclear, women's issues and third-world interest groups etc. Mostly loosely structured, they usually recruit their members from the middle classes. Their successful activities include not only local ones but also a number of effective nation-wide campaigns: prevention of the inauguration of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant (1978) Nuclear Energy, prevention of armoured car deliveries to Chile (1980), preservation of the Hainburger Au conservation area (1984, final decision not to build a river power station that would have threatened the ecology of the wetlands in 199, Occupation of Hainburg Au). Since 1994, environmental impact assessments including the participation of the local population have been required for major construction projects. New social movements have also been the nucleus from which Green Parties have sprung.