The organisational strategies of movements in referendums from below
This chapter examines the organisational aspects of the referendums from below in Scotland and Catalonia and the participation of various social movements in those campaigns. It first considers the role of pro-independent political parties and their interactions with the relevant movements before looking at some of the most significant movement organisations active in campaigns around the issue of referendums in the Catalan and Scottish cases. In particular, it discusses the organisational structures and repertoires of contention of the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) and Women for Independence (WFI) in Scotland, and the Plataforma pel Dret a Decidir/Platform for the Right to Decide (PDD), the Assemblea Nacional Catalana/National Catalan Assembly (ANC), and the Òmnium Cultural in Catalonia. The chapter shows that two factors impinge on the nature of the organisational strategies adopted by movements in referendum campaigns: the issue of time and the prevailing political culture in the two nations.