Taiwan's State and Social Movements Under the DPP Government, 2000–2004

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-sho Ho
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Democratic Progressive Party ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Conservative Policy ◽  
Movement Strategy ◽  
Progressive Party

This article explores the evolution of social movement politics under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government (2000–2004) by using the perspective of political opportunity structure. Recent “contentious politics” in Taiwan is analyzed in terms of four changing dimensions of the opportunity structure. First, the DPP government opens some policy channels, and social movement activists are given chances to work within the institution. Yet other features of the political landscape are less favorable to movement activists. Incumbent elites' political orientation shifts. As the economic recession sets in, there is a conservative policy turn. Political instability incurs widespread countermoblization to limit reform. Last, the Pan-Blue camp, now in opposition, devises its own social movement strategy. Some social movement issues gain political salience as a consequence of the intervention of the opposition parties, but its excessive opportunism also encourages the revolt of antireform forces. As a result of these countervailing factors, social movements have made only limited gains from the recent turnover of power.

Nepal: Tarai/Madhesh Movements and Political Elites

2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962095488
Author(s):  
Abi Chamlagai
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure

The purpose of this article is to compare Nepal’s two Tarai/Madhesh Movements using the political opportunity structure theory of social movements. Tarai/Madhesh Movement I launched by the Forum for Madheshi People’s Rights in 2007 became successful as Nepal became a federal state. Tarai/Madhesh Movement II launched by the United Democratic Madheshi Front of the Tarai/Madheshi parties and the Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee of the Tharu organizations failed as political elites disagreed about the need to create two provinces in the Tarai/Madhesh. While Tarai/Madhesh Movement II confirms that a social movement is more likely to fail when political elites align against it, Tarai/Madhesh Movement II refutes the theoretical proposition. Tarai/Madhesh Movement I suggests that the sucess of a social movement is more likely despite the alignment of political elites against it if its central demand consistently sustains the support of its constituents.

Generational Conflicts Plaguing Taiwan's Politics

2015 ◽  
Vol 07 (01) ◽  
pp. 96-105
Author(s):  
Katherine Hui-Yi TSENG
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Democratic Progressive Party ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Local Election ◽  
Generational Conflicts ◽  
Progressive Party

Taiwan's politics in 2014 had been plagued by generational conflicts in various aspects. Younger electorates and civil forces had stood in line with the opposition force, the Democratic Progressive Party, in social movements and the local election at end-2014. A poor performing domestic government, along with a tepid economy, has attenuated the ruling government's credential in delivering policy outcomes. Cross-strait rapprochement initiated under the Ma administration since 2010 is also under serious challenges.

Political Opportunity Structure, Contentious Social Movements, and State-Based Organizations: The Fight against Solidarity inside the Polish United Workers Party

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
The State ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Studies of social movements have often focused on the role of the state vis-à-vis social movements—in recent times using the concept of political opportunity structure to understand the options available to social movements. This article examines the internal conflicts within the ruling party in Communist Poland to show that a reciprocal process proceeded, in which both the social movement and the state found the choices of action available to them limited by the other, rather than just the social movement. The social upheaval that impacted the entire country brought about the rise of a reform movement within the ruling Polish United Workers Party, which prevented the government from acting as it preferred for a significant period of time. That reform movement, which would not have existed without Solidarity and certainly would not have brought about intraparty changes by itself, saw itself as connected to and dependent upon Solidarity. Party conservatives had to respond to and overcome the reformers before they could turn their full attention to ending the challenge Solidarity presented to the Communist system. In effect, for a time, Solidarity limited the political opportunity structure of the state, while the reverse was also true. While social movement scholars have long considered the possibilities and the limits on possibilities available to social movements because of the state or other external circumstances, this experience demonstrates that similar considerations must sometimes be contemplated with respect to the state.

scholarly journals Genocide as Contentious Politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliza Luft
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Convergence And Divergence

Preprint, final version in Sociology Compass available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soc4.12304/fullDespite a recent turn towards the study of political violence within the field of contentious politics, scholars have yet to focus their lens on genocide. This is puzzling, as the field of collective action and social movements was originally developed in reaction to fascism (Nazism in particular), while research on collective action and research on genocide has long shown parallel findings and shared insights. This paper reviews the history of this scholarly convergence and divergence, and suggests that recent findings of research on genocide can be improved by the consideration of concepts from social movements and collective action. It then details three theories of the micro-mechanisms that mobilize individuals for contention – framing, diffusion, and networks – and specifies how they refine existing explanations of civilian participation in genocide. In the conclusion, I suggest that a contentious politics approach to genocide would consider it one form of collective action among others, analyzable within the existing framework of collective action and social movement theory.

Introduction: Education and the Long March through the Institutions

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tarlau
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Movement Strategy ◽  
Social Visions ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Professional Degrees ◽  
Internal Capacity

The Introduction presents the basic goals of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement’s agrarian reform struggle and explains how its educational proposal is part and parcel of achieving those goals. Then it outlines the three arguments of this book: engaging formal institutions can contribute to the internal capacity of movements; combining contentious and institutional tactics is an effective movement strategy; and the government’s political orientation, the state’s capacity for educational governance, and a social movement’s own infrastructure condition the possibilities for institutional change. The chapter argues for a Gramscian perspective on social movement–state relations, which views public institutions as an ambiguous sphere that protects the state from attack and is also an arena for resistance. Through the contentious co-governance of public education, movements can integrate more youth and women into the movement, equip movement leaders with professional degrees, and allow activists to prefigure their social visions.

Contentious Politics and Social Movements

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Tarrow ◽  
Charles Tilly
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Many

This article discusses contentious politics and social movements, specifically during the Philippines' turmoil of January 2001. It first defines ‘contentious politics’, and then relates it to social movement. It identifies the many ways of studying the dynamics of contention and ends with a study of democracy, violence, and several questions of the future of social movements.

scholarly journals Prefigurative Politics and Social Movement Strategy: The Roles of Prefiguration in the Reproduction, Mobilisation and Coordination of Movements

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172093604
Author(s):  
Luke Yates
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Movement Strategy ◽  
Prefigurative Politics ◽  
The 1960S

Recent work historicises and theoretically refines the concept of prefigurative politics. Yet disagreements over the question of whether or how it is politically effective remain. What roles does prefiguration play in strategies of transformation, and what implications does it have for understandings of strategy? The article begins to answer this question by tracking the concept’s use, from discussions of left strategy in the 1960s, a qualifier of new social movements in the 1980s–1990s, its application to protest events in the 2000s, to its contemporary proliferation of meanings. This contextualises reflections on the changing arguments about the roles of prefiguration in social movement strategy. Based on literature about strategy, three essential categories of applied movement strategy are identified: reproduction, mobilisation and coordination. Prefigurative dynamics are part of all three, showing that the reproduction of movements is strategically significant, while the coordination of movements can take various ‘prefigurative’ forms.

scholarly journals Advances in social movement theory since the global financial crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Nulman ◽  
Raphael Schlembach
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The social movement literature in Western Europe and North America has oriented much of its theoretical work towards micro-, meso-, and macro-level examinations of its subject of study but has rarely integrated these levels of analysis. This review article broadly documents the leading theoretical perspectives on social movements, while highlighting the contributions made in recent years with regard to the wave of protests across the globe – typified by the Occupy Movement and the ‘Arab Spring’ – and grievances that are relatively novel in qualitative or quantitative form such as austerity, precarity, and a sense of democratic deficiency. While these novel social processes have invigorated the specialized arena of ‘social movement studies’ and generated a resurgence of work on social movements beyond the field, this article argues for the need to interconnect levels of analysis in order to develop a more insightful account of contemporary contentious politics.

scholarly journals Was 2016 a Realigning Election in Taiwan?

Asian Survey ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 1006-1028
Author(s):  
Cal Clark ◽  
Alexander C. Tan ◽  
Karl Ho
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Party System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Democratic Progressive Party ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Progressive Party

The January 2016 presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan produced a dramatic and unprecedented victory for the Democratic Progressive Party over its long-time rival, the Kuomintang. The party had never had a parliamentary majority before 2016. The elections indicated the potential for fundamental change in Taiwan’s party system. This is what political scientists call a critical realigning election. The problem with identifying these elections, such as the 1896 and 1932 ones in the United States, is that we can only be sure of such an interpretation after a significant amount of time has passed. Still, some of the changes in Taiwan are fundamental enough to make such an evaluation worthwhile. We summarize realigning elections; discuss the factors that may lead to a change in the partisan balance; and describe the growing role of protest parties and social movements in Taiwan politics.

scholarly journals Beyond contention: urban social movements and their multiple approaches to secure transformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Mitlin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Global South ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Movement Organizations

This paper explores the strategies of social movement organizations working in towns and cities of the global South to secure justice for their members and address poverty and inequality. The paper argues that there has been a false distinction between alternative strategies of resistance. Drawing on research in Kenya and South Africa, I argue that, rather than seeing strategies of contention, collaboration and subversion as separate approaches, they can best be understood as alternative strategies, adopted simultaneously and iteratively by urban social movements. Movements, I suggest, move among contentious politics, efforts at collaboration with the state, and subversion (often taking the form of encroachment), to address the survival imperatives of their members.

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