What’s in a name again? The identity frames and mobilisation strategies of Czech Romani and Pro-Romani activists

Ethnicities ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 816-843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Koubek

The aim of this study is to empirically analyse the relationship of collective identity frames to the mobilisation strategies of the Czech Romani and pro-Romani activists over the past two decades. After all, most existing analyses merely implicitly assume that this relationship exists, and explain the relationship as the result of a given political opportunity structure, but they do not examine these frames more closely. Using frame and claim-making analysis, the text traces the diachronic and synchronic development of self-naming frames and the collective action repertoire in five-year intervals (1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012). It shows that, whereas self-naming significantly changes, the activists’ action repertoire does not. Thus, the frequently postulated relationship between self-naming, strategies and activists’ priorities is not confirmed. However, the analysis does reveal that certain claims and frames are connected with certain strategies and repertoire patterns. The paper concludes with a discussion of reasons for this diversification of activist framings, which may be the result of efforts to focus on different target audiences within the multiplicity of opportunity structures and a response to the (new) availability of external sources of funding in Central and Eastern Europe countries.

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eitan Alimi

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1084-1105
Author(s):  
Jean L. Cohen

This article focuses on the relationship between social movements and political parties in the context of populist challenges to constitutional democracy. There are many reasons for the current plight of democracy but I focus here on one aspect: the decline of mainstream political parties, the emergence of new forms of populist movement parties and the general crisis of political representation in long consolidated Western democracies. This article analyses the specific political logic and dynamics of social movements – the logic of influence, and distinguishes it from that of political parties – the logic of power. It addresses transformations in movements, parties and their relationships. It looks at the shifts in movement and party types that constitute the political opportunity structure for the emergence of new populist movement party forms and relationships, focusing on the hollowing out and movement-ization of political parties. Contemporary populist movement parties are not the cause of the hollowing out or movement-ization of political parties. Rather they are a response to the crisis of political representation exemplified by hollow parties and cartel parties. But it is my thesis that thanks to its specific logic, populism fosters the worst version of movement party relationships, undermining the democratic functions of both.


2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Orsini

The term ''blood activism'' describes the range of collective challenges that arose among victims of Canada's tainted-blood scandal in the 1990s. This article examines the emergence of blood activism in Canada from the perspective of social movement theory, paying particular attention to the tensions between victims who contracted HIV through tainted blood and those who contracted Hepatitis C, the so-called ''forgotten victims'' of the tragedy. This study discusses how changes in the ''political opportunity structure''—loosely defined in the literature as aspects of the movement's external environment—influenced the nature of political action pursued by victims of tainted blood, the negotiation of the movement's collective identity and policy outcomes.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Poloni-Staudinger

This study asks under what domestic conditions environmental groups in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will overcome the collective action, resource, and ideological impediments to cooperative activity. A political opportunity structure (POS) approach is employed which looks at the relationship between elite alliances and domestic cleavages and the choice to engage in domestic as well as transnational cooperation. Using data gathered through content analysis over a nearly twenty-five year period, I find that changes in domestic opportunities influence the choice of environmental groups to engage in cooperative activities. An open POS is found to depress both domestic and transnational cooperation, while a closed POS increases cooperative activities.


Contention ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-52
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Williams

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.


1893 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 401-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl A. von Zittel

In a spirited treatise on the ‘Origin of our Animal World’ Prof. L. Rütimeyer, in the year 1867, described the geological development and distribution of the mammalia, and the relationship of the different faunas of the past with each other and with that now existing. Although, since the appearance of that masterly sketch the palæontological material has been, at least, doubled through new discoveries in Europe and more especially in North and South America, this unexpected increase has in most instances only served as a confirmation of the views which Rutimeyer advanced on more limited experience. At present, Africa forms the only great gap in our knowledge of the fossil mammalia; all the remaining parts of the world can show materials more or less abundantly, from which the course followed by the mammalia in their geological development can be traced with approximate certainty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Aliyah Snyder ◽  
Christopher Sheridan ◽  
Alexandra Tanner ◽  
Kevin Bickart ◽  
Molly Sullan ◽  
...  

Dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) may play an important role in the development and maintenance of persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS). Post-injury breathing dysfunction, which is influenced by the ANS, has not been well-studied in youth. This study evaluated cardiorespiratory functioning at baseline in youth patients with PPCS and examined the relationship of cardiorespiratory variables with neurobehavioral outcomes. Participants were between the ages of 13–25 in two groups: (1) Patients with PPCS (concussion within the past 2–16 months; n = 13) and (2) non-injured controls (n = 12). Capnometry was used to obtain end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2), oxygen saturation (SaO2), respiration rate (RR), and pulse rate (PR) at seated rest. PPCS participants exhibited a reduced mean value of EtCO2 in exhaled breath (M = 36.3 mmHg, SD = 2.86 mmHg) and an altered inter-correlation between EtCO2 and RR compared to controls. Neurobehavioral outcomes including depression, severity of self-reported concussion symptoms, cognitive catastrophizing, and psychomotor processing speed were correlated with cardiorespiratory variables when the groups were combined. Overall, results from this study suggest that breathing dynamics may be altered in youth with PPCS and that cardiorespiratory outcomes could be related to a dimension of neurobehavioral outcomes associated with poorer recovery from concussion.


1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Roberts

A descriptive study of factors in the lifestyle of fifty couples married an average of 55.5 years and an average age of seventy-nine years provided data for this report. The non-random sample was heterogeneous using traditional socio-economic indicators. Life-Satisfaction (LSI-Z), Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment scores, and perception of health were all high. More than half the sample were now or had been sexually active within the past five years. Independence, commitment, companionship and qualities of caring were significant elements in these long-lasting marriages.


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