Movements, Countermovements, and the Structure of Political Opportunity

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 1628-1660 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Meyer ◽  
Suzanne Staggenborg
Keyword(s):  
Political Opportunity

Occupy Movement, Religion and Social Formations

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Matt Sheedy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Social Formation ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

The Occupy movement was an unprecedented social formation that spread to approximate 82 countries around the globe in the fall of 2011 via social media through the use of myths, symbols and rituals that were performed in public space and quickly drew widespread mainstream attention. In this paper I argue that the movement offers a unique instance of how discourse functions in the construction of society and I show how the shared discourses of Occupy were taken-up and shaped in relation to the political opportunity structures and interests of those involved based on my own fieldwork at Occupy Winnipeg. I also argue that the Occupy movement provides an example of how we might substantively attempt to classify “religion” by looking at how it embodied certain metaphysical claims while contrasting it with the beliefs and practices of more conventionally defined “religious” communities.

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.

Empire's Legacy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W.P. Veugelers
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Associations ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Middle Part ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Southeast Region ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Postwar Europe

Building on the idea of latent political potential, this book offers an alternative interpretation of the contemporary far right. Its main thesis is that relations between colonizers and colonized implanted a legacy that, under certain conditions, translated into support for the far right in France. To make this argument, the book offers a model for the study of political potentials that combines a situational approach to identity relations, a networks approach to subcultural practice, and a historical approach to political opportunity. The early part of this book traces the origins and development of this potential among the European settlers of French Algeria. The middle part examines its transmission via voluntary associations and its channeling into mainstream parties. The latter part examines the conditions under which this potential redirected into the far right. Starting with colonial Algeria, after independence in 1962 the book moves between politics at three levels: France, the southeast region, and Toulon (which in 1995 became the largest city in postwar Europe to elect a far-right administration). Complementing economic explanations for nativism, this book argues that our understanding of modernity errs when it disregards the potency of anachronistic remnants.

‘It Is a Tradition in the Nuclear Industry . . . Secrecy’: Political Opportunity Structures and Nuclear Knowledge Production in France

2021 ◽  
pp. 136078042110250
Author(s):  
Julie Schweitzer ◽  
Tamara L Mix
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Nuclear Program ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Shaping Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

Employing the example of France’s civil nuclear program, we connect political opportunity structures (POSs) to mechanisms of knowledge production, identifying how opposing stakeholders generate knowledge about a controversial technology. A history of nuclear dependence in France creates a context that praises, normalizes, and rationalizes nuclear energy while stigmatizing attempts to question or contest the nuclear industry’s dominant position. Integrating Bond’s knowledge-shaping process with Coy and colleagues’ concept of oppositional knowledge, we consider how the broader social, political, and economic context influences opposing stakeholder assessments of nuclear energy. Employing qualitative semi-structured interviews, we offer unique insight into the French nuclear debate, discussing the role of POS in shaping knowledge production.

Autocratization Verity: Insights from Democratic Setbacks in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Uchenna C. Obiagu ◽  
Ifeanyichukwu Michael Abada ◽  
Peter Oluchukwu Mbah
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
Group Control ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Acquisition Strategy ◽  
Political Groups

Abstract This study builds on extant literature on autocratization by critically analyzing democratic setbacks, arising from widespread incidents of electoral and political violence in democratic processes in Africa. The study leverages on frustration-aggression propositions to analyze the politico-electoral dynamics in autocratization trends in climes where the incentives to use violence as power acquisition strategy have become a dominant norm either by the ruling elites who seek to remain in power (sometimes by all means – both legal and, mostly, illegal) or by the opposition groups seeking to dislodge the former. As a qualitative research, the study squarely relies on available documented textual materials and rich datasets developed by reputable international research institutes. The analysis of data reveals that autocratization is real, gradual and subtle in Africa, and it is fostered by weak electoral institutions that are helpless in checkmating the use of violent strategies to win an election, which is the most visible element of modern democracy. Based on these findings, deliberate efforts should be made to build and/or strengthen electoral institutions that will rise above group interests and group control and ensure equal playing ground for all political groups in the contestation for state power. This will guarantee stable democratic growth within the context of the democratic principle of equal political opportunity premised on one man, one vote in Africa.

El personal directivo en las leyes autonómicas de desarrollo del EBEP

2011 ◽  
pp. 283-323
Author(s):  
Luis F. MAESO SECO
Keyword(s):  
Basque Country ◽  
State Level ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Public Employment ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Administrative Culture ◽  
La Mancha ◽  
The One ◽  
Pais Vasco ◽  
Managerial Staff

LABURPENA: Lau urte dira Administrazio Publikoko Langileen Oinarrizko Estatutua indarrean sartu zela, baita horren 13. artikulua ere. Artikulu horretan gobernuei (estatukoa eta autonomia erkidegoetakoak) deia egin zitzaien, nahi izanez gero, zuzendaritzako langileen araubidea ezar zezaten. Arrazoi batzuengatik edo beste batzuengatik (aukera politikoa, administrazioaren erresistentzia, kontrako egoera ekonomikoak, eta abar), dei hori ez du aintzat hartu ez estatuko indar legegileak ez estatuko gobernuak. Zenbait autonomia erkidegotako legegileek eta gobernuek, ordea, kontuan izan dute; horiek Administrazio Publikoko Langileen Oinarrizko Estatutua garatu dute —edo garatzeko izapideak egiten ari dira— eta zuzendaritzako langileen araubidea ezarri dute (Valentzian eta Gaztela-Mantxan, esate baterako, onartu dituzte dagoeneko enplegu publikoaren legeak). Horrez gain, horietako batzuek, hemen G10 deitutako taldea osatzen dutenek hain zuzen ere, berrikuntza asko egin dituzte gai honetan. Funtsezko edukietan, Balear Uharteetako Autonomia Erkidegoa eta Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa nabarmendu dira gainontzekoen gainetik. Horiei buruz mintzatzen da bereziki, bada, azterlana. RESUMEN: Hace ya más de cuatro años que el EBEP entró en vigor y también su artículo 13. Un artículo en el que se hacía una llamada a los ejecutivos (estatal y autonómicos) para que, sí así lo deseaban, estableciesen un régimen del personal directivo. Pues bien, lo cierto es que, por unas razones u otras (de oportunidad política, de resistencias administrativas, de coyunturas económicas desfavorables, etc.), aquella llamada no ha sido atendida por el legislador o el ejecutivo estatal. Pero sí por los legisladores y ejecutivos de varias Comunidades Autónomas que, no sólo no han dudado en desarrollar el EBEP —o están en trámite de hacerlo— y establecer un régimen de su personal directivo (caso de Valencia o de Castilla-La Mancha, con sus leyes de empleo público ya aprobadas), sino que algunas de ellas (las que integran el aquí llamado G10) han innovado de forma considerable en la materia. Destacando en lo sustantivo y por encima del resto, la Comunidad de las Islas Baleares y el País Vasco. A las cuales está dedicado de manera especial este estudio. ABSTRACT: The Basic Statute for Civil Servants (EBEP in Spanish) came into force more than four years ago, and also its article 13. This article 13 made a call to (state and regional) executives to establish a regime for the managerial staff, if they so wished. Well then the truth is that due to different reasons (political opportunity, administrative culture and others related to economic crisis), that call was not taken into account at the State level. However, Legislators and Executives from different Autonomous Communities have responded to this call. On the one hand, by developing the EBEP (or they are in the process of doing so) and by establishing a regime for managerial staff (the case of Valencia and Castilla-La Mancha, whose public employment acts had already been passed). Also and in addi tion, some of them (those members of the so called G10) have made remarkable innovations on the matter. The Communities of the Balearic Islands and Basque Country stand out above the rest, to which this study is specially devoted.

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