scholarly journals Victory and Defeat: The Contentious Politics of One Generation of State Workers in China since the 1960s

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-222
Author(s):  
Ju Li
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Repertoire Of Contention ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Historical Periods

AbstractBy analysing and comparing three waves of contentious collective action employed by the pioneering generation of Chinese state workers at one particular state-owned enterprise from the 1960s to the present, this study aims to explain its varying forms and to analyse its effectiveness in different historical periods. I argue that the changing political opportunity structure in various historical contexts has greatly conditioned workers’ “repertoire of contention” at each moment and, hence, significantly affected the processes, strategies, and outcomes of workers’ contentious collective action. This article highlights the paradoxical role of the socialist social contract as a potential but crucial component of “the repertoire of contention”, by arguing that different interpretations of the contract, as conditioned by a certain political opportunity structure in different historical periods, could either empower or disempower workers. Both archival and oral history research are used in this study.

Mobilizing Under the Gun: Theorizing Political Opportunity Structure in a Highly Repressive Setting

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Alimi
Keyword(s):  
Research Program ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Different Levels

Although episodes of contentious politics in undemocratic regimes constitute the lion's share of contentious political events worldwide, the theorizing of political opportunity structures is based largely on contentious episodes in democratic/liberal political settings. This anomaly hampers recent attempts to redefine the boundaries among episodes of contention across time and place. Employing the case of the first Palestinian Intifada (1987-1992), I critically examine three theoretical aspects of political opportunity structures (POS): (1) how the link between POS, strateg, and tactics is forged; (2) how different levels of POS interact; and (3) the ability of multiactor movements to cope with the shifting nature of POS. I conclude by briefly illustrating the relevance of my findings to other structurally similar cases, and discuss the implications of my analysis for further sensitization of the Dynamics of Contention research program.

Discursive Opportunities, Feeling Rules, and the Rise of Protests Against Aircraft Noise

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Bröer ◽  
Jan Duyvendak
Keyword(s):  
Aircraft Noise ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Do So ◽  
Feeling Rules

Social movement researchers propose different ways to incorporate meaning into structural approaches, notably into political opportunity structure (POS) theory. In this article we further develop one of the recent attempts to do so: discursive opportunity structure theory (DOS) as proposed by Koopmans and Olzak. We pay particular attention to the role of feelings. Although the DOS model correctly points toward the discursive construction of political opportunities, it does not explain why certain events are experienced as opportunities by potential activists. We propose the reason is two-fold: 1) discourse contains feeling rules and 2) discourse resonance implies the shaping of protest subjectivity. Our model is applied to a specific case: protests against aircraft noise annoyance in two countries. We show that feeling annoyed by aircraft sound is shaped by specific policy discourses, which then prepares the ground for protests.

The Political Geography of Nationalist Protest in China: Cities and the 2012 Anti-Japanese Protests

2015 ◽  
Vol 222 ◽  
pp. 403-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy L. Wallace ◽  
Jessica Chen Weiss
Keyword(s):  
College Graduates ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Social Unrest ◽  
Chinese Nationalism ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Common Target

AbstractWhy do some Chinese cities take part in waves of nationalist protest but not others? Nationalist protest remains an important but understudied topic within the study of contentious politics in China, particularly at the subnational level. Relative to other protests, nationalist mobilization is more clustered in time and geographically widespread, uniting citizens in different cities against a common target. Although the literature has debated the degree of state-led and grassroots influence on Chinese nationalism, we argue that it is important to consider both the propensity of citizens to mobilize and local government fears of instability. Analysing an original dataset of 377 anti-Japanese protests across 208 of 287 Chinese prefectural cities, we find that both state-led patriotism and the availability of collective action resources were positively associated with nationalist protest, particularly “biographically available” populations of students and migrants. In addition, the government's role was not monolithically facilitative. Fears of social unrest shaped the local political opportunity structure, with anti-Japanese protests less likely in cities with larger populations of unemployed college graduates and ethnic minorities and more likely in cities with established leaders.

scholarly journals Líderes agrarios, identidades anticlericales y acción colectiva en la etapa del Frente Popular

2019 ◽  
pp. 161-189
Author(s):  
Julio Prada-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
New Meanings

This article analyses the gestation of anticlerical identities and the development of collective actions to occupy Catholic Church properties during the period of the Popular Front in rural Galicia (Spain). We also look into the rationale behind these actions, the objectives of the leaders and participants and the new meanings these actions acquired in a context of accelerated political, social and cultural change. While recognizing and valuing the importance of cultural resources in defining the anticlerical identities, we defend the essential and activating role of the new political opportunity structure that opened up after the triumph of the Popular Front in February 1936.

The European Citizens’ Initiative: Mobilization Strategies and Consequences

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manès Weisskircher
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Depth Analysis

Research on the European Citizens’ Initiative has neglected the crucial role of social movements. This article contributes to the study of mobilization strategies and campaign consequences through two novel arguments: First, in explaining successful mobilization, I argue that the European Citizens’ Initiative as a political opportunity structure incentivizes the organization of nationally focused campaigns centred in at least one large, that is, populous state, instead of Europe-wide activism. Second, in explaining the multiple consequences of European Citizens’ Initiative mobilization, I show that a campaign may have important, often unintended, effects beyond (the failure to achieve) policy change, including disappointment with the democratic process leading to European Citizens’ Initiative reform and a renewed focus on national politics. This article provides an in-depth analysis of one of the only five European Citizens’ Initiative campaigns that have been able to collect the required one million signatures, while referring to other campaigns as shadow cases. The findings have important implications for debates on EU democracy.

Political Context, Organizational Engagement, and Protest in African Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Pilati
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Organizational Engagement ◽  
The Impact

This article analyzes levels of protest mobilization in eighteen African countries—by far the region least studied by researchers of protest dynamics. Theoretically, its goal is to integrate the role of organizational engagement into political opportunity approaches to protest mobilization. Empirically, it uses African data to test whether Western-driven theories provide useful insights for analyzing protest dynamics in developing countries. The analysis yields three major findings: (1) the more open and democratic the political context, the more individuals mobilize, although the impact of the political opportunity structure in repressive contexts is less certain; (2) the more individuals are engaged in organizations, excluding religious organizations, the more they mobilize; (3) the impact of individual organizational engagement on the probability of mobilizing in protests does not change across contexts.

How Students on College Campuses Created Opportunities for Workers in Sweatshops

Contention ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-52
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
College Administrators ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Apparel Companies ◽  
A Chain

Political opportunity structure (POS) refers to how the larger social context, such as repression, shapes a social movement’s chances of success. Most work on POS looks at how movements deal with the political opportunities enabling and/or constraining them. This article looks at how one group of social movement actors operating in a more open POS alters the POS for a different group of actors in a more repressive environment through a chain of indirect leverage—how United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) uses the more open POS on college campuses to create new opportunities for workers in sweatshop factories. USAS exerts direct leverage over college administrators through protests, pushing them to exert leverage over major apparel companies through the licensing agreements schools have with these companies.

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