Discursive Opportunities, Feeling Rules, and the Rise of Protests Against Aircraft Noise

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Bröer ◽  
Jan Duyvendak
Keyword(s):  
Aircraft Noise ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Do So ◽  
Feeling Rules

Social movement researchers propose different ways to incorporate meaning into structural approaches, notably into political opportunity structure (POS) theory. In this article we further develop one of the recent attempts to do so: discursive opportunity structure theory (DOS) as proposed by Koopmans and Olzak. We pay particular attention to the role of feelings. Although the DOS model correctly points toward the discursive construction of political opportunities, it does not explain why certain events are experienced as opportunities by potential activists. We propose the reason is two-fold: 1) discourse contains feeling rules and 2) discourse resonance implies the shaping of protest subjectivity. Our model is applied to a specific case: protests against aircraft noise annoyance in two countries. We show that feeling annoyed by aircraft sound is shaped by specific policy discourses, which then prepares the ground for protests.

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.

Political Opportunities for Participation and China’s Leadership Transition

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-86
Author(s):  
Diana Fu ◽  
Greg Distelhorst
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Disruptive Behavior ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Leadership Transition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Institutional Participation

How does China manage political participation? This chapter analyzes changing opportunities for participation in the leadership transition from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping. Contentious political participation—where individuals and independent organizations engage in protest and other disruptive behavior—has been further curtailed under Xi’s leadership. Yet institutional participation by ordinary citizens through quasi-democratic institutions appears unaffected and is even trending up in certain sectors. Manipulation of the political opportunity structure is likely strategic behavior on the part of authoritarian rulers, as they seek to incorporate or appease the discontented. The political opportunity structure in non-democracies is therefore multifaceted: one channel of participation can close as others expand.

Black Sun Rising: Political Opportunity Structure Perceptions and Institutionalization of the Azov Movement in Post-Euromaidan Ukraine

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 774-800
Author(s):  
Ivan Gomza ◽  
Johann Zajaczkowski
Keyword(s):  
Winning Coalition ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Strategic Vision ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
Ruling Elites ◽  
Leadership Structure

AbstractThis article explores the rise of the Azov movement and explains the process through the political opportunity structure theory. We argue that a loosely coherent winning coalition of the post-Euromaidan ruling elites enabled Azov’s participation in conventional politics. As a result, Azov launched the ongoing institutionalization process which is largely responsible for Azov’s success as compared to other far-right movements. We show that two movement entrepreneurs’ profiles, namely political activist and radical, dominated the Azov leadership structure and managed to promote their strategic vision on cooperation with state officials effectively combined with contentious action. We find that political activist entrepreneurs tend to push institutionalization alongside particular institutionalization axes, namely adaptability, reification, and systemness, whereas radical entrepreneurs are responsible for Azov’s transformation into an intense policy demander.

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.

scholarly journals Victory and Defeat: The Contentious Politics of One Generation of State Workers in China since the 1960s

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-222
Author(s):  
Ju Li
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
Repertoire Of Contention ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Historical Periods

AbstractBy analysing and comparing three waves of contentious collective action employed by the pioneering generation of Chinese state workers at one particular state-owned enterprise from the 1960s to the present, this study aims to explain its varying forms and to analyse its effectiveness in different historical periods. I argue that the changing political opportunity structure in various historical contexts has greatly conditioned workers’ “repertoire of contention” at each moment and, hence, significantly affected the processes, strategies, and outcomes of workers’ contentious collective action. This article highlights the paradoxical role of the socialist social contract as a potential but crucial component of “the repertoire of contention”, by arguing that different interpretations of the contract, as conditioned by a certain political opportunity structure in different historical periods, could either empower or disempower workers. Both archival and oral history research are used in this study.

Between Zapata and Che

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-229
Author(s):  
Dolores Trevizo
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
State Violence ◽  
The State ◽  
Student Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Political Alliances

This research explains why Mexico's 1968 student movement ended in the massacre of hundreds of students, while the peasant revolts that followed won land reform from the state. I argue that because Mexico's presidents managed each movement with both repression and concessions, other factors beyond the state's political opportunity structure explain these sharply contrasting social movement outcomes. The evidence strongly suggests that while Mexico's version of authoritarianism increased the odds of repression, each movement's levels of organization, disruption, and framing strategies determined the forms and degree of state violence. The analysis shows how politically salient frames may decrease the odds of repression or increase the odds of political alliances with state elites. It follows that political opportunities are more dynamic and dialogically emergent than previously theorized.

scholarly journals Líderes agrarios, identidades anticlericales y acción colectiva en la etapa del Frente Popular

2019 ◽  
pp. 161-189
Author(s):  
Julio Prada-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
New Meanings

This article analyses the gestation of anticlerical identities and the development of collective actions to occupy Catholic Church properties during the period of the Popular Front in rural Galicia (Spain). We also look into the rationale behind these actions, the objectives of the leaders and participants and the new meanings these actions acquired in a context of accelerated political, social and cultural change. While recognizing and valuing the importance of cultural resources in defining the anticlerical identities, we defend the essential and activating role of the new political opportunity structure that opened up after the triumph of the Popular Front in February 1936.

The European Citizens’ Initiative: Mobilization Strategies and Consequences

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 797-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manès Weisskircher
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Unintended Effects ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Depth Analysis

Research on the European Citizens’ Initiative has neglected the crucial role of social movements. This article contributes to the study of mobilization strategies and campaign consequences through two novel arguments: First, in explaining successful mobilization, I argue that the European Citizens’ Initiative as a political opportunity structure incentivizes the organization of nationally focused campaigns centred in at least one large, that is, populous state, instead of Europe-wide activism. Second, in explaining the multiple consequences of European Citizens’ Initiative mobilization, I show that a campaign may have important, often unintended, effects beyond (the failure to achieve) policy change, including disappointment with the democratic process leading to European Citizens’ Initiative reform and a renewed focus on national politics. This article provides an in-depth analysis of one of the only five European Citizens’ Initiative campaigns that have been able to collect the required one million signatures, while referring to other campaigns as shadow cases. The findings have important implications for debates on EU democracy.

Political Context, Organizational Engagement, and Protest in African Countries

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Pilati
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Organizational Engagement ◽  
The Impact

This article analyzes levels of protest mobilization in eighteen African countries—by far the region least studied by researchers of protest dynamics. Theoretically, its goal is to integrate the role of organizational engagement into political opportunity approaches to protest mobilization. Empirically, it uses African data to test whether Western-driven theories provide useful insights for analyzing protest dynamics in developing countries. The analysis yields three major findings: (1) the more open and democratic the political context, the more individuals mobilize, although the impact of the political opportunity structure in repressive contexts is less certain; (2) the more individuals are engaged in organizations, excluding religious organizations, the more they mobilize; (3) the impact of individual organizational engagement on the probability of mobilizing in protests does not change across contexts.

scholarly journals MEMBACA GERAKAN ISLAM RADIKAL DAN DERADIKALISASI GERAKAN ISLAM

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Muzayyin Ahyar
Keyword(s):  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Religious Ideology ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Political Problem

<p class="IIABSBARU">This study focussed on many radical Islamic movements in Solo as the objects of research, especially the Islamic movements oftenly called as Tim Hisbah. Applying the approach of political sociology, this research will capture that phenomenons of religious radicalism are not merely problem of religious ideology, but also socio-political problem. Frammed by the social theories such as the theory of identity and social movements, included political opportunity structure, framing process, and the mobilizing structure this study showed that radicalism is an effort to establish identity by utilizing mass network (Muslim), mobilization, framing process, and advantaging political opportunities (democratic nature). In addition to relate to religious de-radicalization in Indonesia, this research argued that Islamic radicalism is not only a religious phenomenon that must be solved solely by de-radicalization of Islamic thought and ideology, but also a phenomenon that can be discussed by other sciences such as social, political and economic sciences.</p><p class="IIABSBARU" align="center">***</p>Penelitian ini mengangkat gerakan Islam di Solo sebagai objek kajian, khususnya pada gerakan yang sering disebut Tim Hisbah. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan sosiologi politik, penelitian ini berusaha menangkap fenomena radikalisme agama bukan sepenuhnya gejala ideologi keagamaan, namun juga sebagai gejala sosial-politik. Penelitian ini akan dipandu oleh teori-teori sosial seperti teori identitas dan gerakan sosial meliputi kesempatan politik (<em>political opportunity</em><em> structure</em>), struktur pembingkaian (<em>framing process</em>), dan struktur mobilisasi (<em>mobilizing structure</em>)<em>.</em> Temuan dari penelitian ini menggambarkan bahwa radikalisme adalah sebuah upaya membentuk identitas dengan menggunakan jejaring massa (Islam), dan memanfaatkan peluang politik (alam demokratis), mobilisasi dan proses pem­bingkaian. Dalam kaitannya dengan deradikalisasi, penelitian ini juga mem­bahas bahwa radikalisme bukan hanya fenomena keagamaan, yang mana per­masalahannya harus dipecahkan dengan deradikalisasi pemikiran dan ideo­logi Islam. Ia juga fenomena yang dapat dikaji melalui ilmu-ilmu lainnya seperti ilmu sosial, politik dan bahkan ekonomi.

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