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.

The Ulama: Pragmatism and Political Acquiescence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walid Jumblatt Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Thought Processes ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

This chapter investigates the position of the ulama within the political system in Singapore. It interrogates the various cleavages amongst the ulama, the strategies they undertake to further causes which they deem important, the issues they shun, and the thought processes behind their decisions. The ulama, just like other actors, are pragmatic creatures, fully cognizant of the costs and benefits of their actions. Different ulama prioritize various goals, depending on their own worldviews and ranking of what is important to them. As a result, the ‘pragmatic alim’ is able to operate within the political opportunity structures in an attempt to maximize his/her gains, while being aware of what has to be given up in order to achieve those objectives.

Cycles of Accumulation, Cycles of Struggle: The Zapatista Revolt in World-Systemic Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 667-681
Author(s):  
Christopher Gunderson
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Phase Shifts ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Expansion Phase ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

The 1994 Zapatista uprising was not the first indigenous revolt in the territory known today as Chiapas, Mexico. Adopting insights from Cox and Nilsen and examining the history of three indigenous revolts in Chiapas within the framework of Arrighi’s “Systemic Cycles of Accumulation” (SCAs), this study considers the effects of such cycles on the timing of indigenous revolts. It finds a correlation between the initiation of the “financial expansion phase” of SCAs and outbreaks of indigenous revolt in Chiapas. Specifying the linkages between each SCA and developments in Chiapas, the study attributes this correlation to the effects of these phase shifts on the political opportunity structures of the indigenous communities. The implications of these findings for a theory of the timing of episodes of collective action generally is discussed.

scholarly journals How Scandals Act as Catalysts of Fringe Stakeholders’ Contentious Actions Against Multinational Corporations

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibault Daudigeos ◽  
Thomas Roulet ◽  
Bertrand Valiorgue
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Corporate Scandals ◽  
Single Target ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Corporate Elites

In this article, we build on the stakeholder-politics literature to investigate how corporate scandals transform political contexts and give impetus to the contentious movements of fringe stakeholders against multinational corporations (MNCs). Based on Adut’s scandal theory, we flesh out three scandal-related processes that directly affect political-opportunity structures (POSs) and the generation of social movements against MNCs: convergence of contention toward a single target, publicization of deviant practices, and contagion to other organizations. These processes reduce the obstacles to collective actions by fringe stakeholders by pushing corporate elites to be more sensitive to their claims, by decreasing MNCs’ capability to repress contentious movements, by forcing the targeted MNCs to formalize a policy to monitor and eradicate the controversial practices, and by helping fringe stakeholders find internal and external allies to support their claims. This conceptual model of scandals as catalysts of contentious actions contributes to a better understanding of stakeholder politics by unveiling the role of the political context in the coordination of fringe stakeholders.

Intergovernmental Organizations and LGBT Issues

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Kiel ◽  
Jamie Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Advocacy Organizations ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Lgbt Issues ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international institutions have proliferated since the end of World War II. This development has changed the landscape of international relations not only for states, but also for nongovernmental organizations and social movements. The advocacy of international nongovernmental organizations (INGO) plays a central role in pushing IGOs and their member states toward action. INGOs’ success in doing so depends on a number of factors, opportunity prime among them. Political opportunity structures (the institutional arrangements and resources available for political and social mobilization) determine lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) INGO access to power holders and thus their chances of bringing their concerns, and possible solutions to those concerns, to IGOs. The opportunity structures vary significantly from one IGO to the next. For example, the political opportunity structure offered by the European Union (EU) has been favorable to LGBT activism, while the United Nations is much less open to comprehensive inclusion of LGBT and sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE) human rights. As LGBT issues move onto an IGO’s agenda, a symbiotic relationship develops between the IGO and advocacy organizations. The changing opportunity structures influence NGOs’ structure, strategy, and resource mobilization. Coordination between advocacy groups with similar goals becomes easier when many organizations have physical offices at IGOs. For diplomats and bureaucrats working at the IGO or national representative offices, INGOs can be beneficial, too. In particular, advocacy organizations are experts and purveyors of information. However, the interdependence between INGOs and IGOs has the potential of silencing voices that do not neatly fit into the internationalist, liberal rights-based discourse. Besides the political opportunity structures in IGOs, the frames INGOs use to advocate for issues have been found to be essential for campaign success. One tactic that often constitutes successful framing is the grafting of issues to existing norms. In the LGBT context, the frames proposed by activists include human rights, health (specifically HIV­-AIDS), and women and gender. International institutions assure that similar issues will be politicized in multiple countries. In order to meaningfully affect domestic populations, the policy needs to translate to the local level through norm diffusion. The mechanisms of diffusion include material inducement (e.g., conditions for membership), learning, and acculturation and socialization.

scholarly journals Public Participation and Collaborative Governance

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
JANET NEWMAN ◽  
MARIAN BARNES ◽  
HELEN SULLIVAN ◽  
ANDREW KNOPS
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

This paper draws on the findings of a study within the ESRC's Democracy and Participation Programme. It explores the processes of participation within deliberative forums – such as user panels, youth forums, area based committees – developed as a means of encouraging a more active, participating mode of citizenship and of improving welfare services by making them more responsive to users. Our findings open up a number of issues about constraints on the development of ‘collaborative governance’. To understand these constraints, we suggest, there is need to locate participation initiatives in the context of government policy, to explore ways in which such policy is interpreted and enacted by strategic actors in local organisations and to examine the perceptions of members of deliberative forums themselves. Our findings highlight the constraints on the ‘political opportunity structures’ created by the enhanced policy focus on public participation, and the consequent limits to ‘collaborative governance’. We discuss how governance theory and social movement theory can each contribute to the analysis, but also suggest productive points of engagement through which each of these bodies of theory might enrich the other.

scholarly journals Why have Anti-Offshore Tin Mining Movements Failed in Bangka but Succeeded in East Belitung? Political Opportunity Structures and Political Settlement in the Context of Indonesia's Democratic Future

PCD Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-227
Author(s):  
Eko Bagus Sholihin
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Political Access ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Important Position ◽  
Political Settlement

Civil society movements have occupied an important position in Indonesia's democratisation. This article seeks to determine why anti-offshore tin mining movements in the post-authoritarian era failed in Bangka but succeeded in East Belitung, an area where tin mining has historically been important. By analysing the political opportunity structures and political settlement mechanisms involved, this article argues, first, that the movement's success in East Belitung can be attributed to open political access, fragmentation within elite circles, and alliances with influential elites; such political opportunities were not available in Bangka. Second, in Bangka, the local bourgeoisie and brokers used clientelistic approaches in their political settlement and prevented resistance by co-opting local communities within the extraction chain. In East Belitung, meanwhile, such efforts were stymied by the lack of local bourgeoisie, the strength of environmental awareness, and the availability of alternative economic resources. It may thus be concluded that, while a clientelistic approach to settlement may prevent conflict, it also limits the political participation of civil society movements—an important element of democracy.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kira D. Jumet
Keyword(s):  
Political Mobilization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Individual Decisions ◽  
Political Opportunity Theory ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter summarizes the arguments, discusses them within the context of the literature on protest mobilization, and explains the theoretical implications of the book. It reviews the intersection between the Synthetic Political Opportunity Theory and the Collective Action Research Program, the importance of political opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and framing processes and how they relate to rational decision-making, and the relationship between structure and emotions in individual decisions to protest or not protest. The chapter examines the political climate in 2016‒2017 under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, including increased repression and monitoring of social media, and the potential for future political mobilization and protest in Egypt.

‘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.

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