Abstract
This paper highlights the circumstances leading to the forming of a residents' movement in order to combat an environmental risk. It achieves this objective by conducting a case study of a protest against the construction of a wide-area waste management facility in the southern part of "Shiga" Prefecture in the former town of "Shiga".
This paper is based on the framework of McAdam et al. (political opportunities, mobilizing structure, and framing processes) and the point of view that Broadbent had regarded a social institutional and collective cultural context in local community as a factor of characterizing a Japanese movement. It investigates the circumstances leading to the emergence of a residents'movement in order to combat an environmental risk by comparing the case of "Shiga" to the case study of "Maki" Town, which is a successful case of a residents'movement combating an environmental hazard.
In the case of "Shiga" Town, a majority of the opposition emphasized the election of opposition members of the town and prefectural assemblies, instead of discussing about the environmental risk posed by the waste management facility with the residents of the area.
Consequently, the movement resulted in residents participating in the policymaking process by electing a prefectural legislative representative for their single-seat constituency and a mayor. However, it became apparent that the conflict surrounding the planned waste management facility was not driven by the concern regarding environmental risk but by the existing political confrontation between the conservatives and reformists. Ultimately, the construction of waste management facility went forward.
In order to organize a residents'movement for combating an environmental risk, it is important for such a movement to be harmonized with the priorities of the local community during the participation in policy making that is driven by the three factors mentioned by McAdam et al.
