scholarly journals Dynamics of Social Movement and Political Opportunity Structure

2001 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidehiro YAMAMOTO ◽  
Tsutomu WATANABE
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure

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.

Political Opportunity Structure, Contentious Social Movements, and State-Based Organizations: The Fight against Solidarity inside the Polish United Workers Party

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
The State ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Studies of social movements have often focused on the role of the state vis-à-vis social movements—in recent times using the concept of political opportunity structure to understand the options available to social movements. This article examines the internal conflicts within the ruling party in Communist Poland to show that a reciprocal process proceeded, in which both the social movement and the state found the choices of action available to them limited by the other, rather than just the social movement. The social upheaval that impacted the entire country brought about the rise of a reform movement within the ruling Polish United Workers Party, which prevented the government from acting as it preferred for a significant period of time. That reform movement, which would not have existed without Solidarity and certainly would not have brought about intraparty changes by itself, saw itself as connected to and dependent upon Solidarity. Party conservatives had to respond to and overcome the reformers before they could turn their full attention to ending the challenge Solidarity presented to the Communist system. In effect, for a time, Solidarity limited the political opportunity structure of the state, while the reverse was also true. While social movement scholars have long considered the possibilities and the limits on possibilities available to social movements because of the state or other external circumstances, this experience demonstrates that similar considerations must sometimes be contemplated with respect to the state.

Enough!

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1011-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rabab El-Mahdi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
First Time

In 2004-2005, for the first time in more than five decades, Egypt witnessed the rise of a protest movement calling for the end of one-party rule. In 1 year, Egypt witnessed more oppositional demonstrations, rallies, and the organization of nonviolent dissident groups than it has seen in the previous 25 years. However, the outcome of this mobilization in terms of democratic opening remained limited and, some argue, negligible. Using social movement theory, which has been unduly ignored by students of democratic transition in the Middle East, and data from fieldwork, the article analyzes the rise, limitations, and potentials of this prodemocracy movement in Egypt. The article argues that changes in the political opportunity structure and relatively successful cultural framing and mobilizing structures pushed for the rise of this movement, but shortcomings on these same fronts limited the movement's expansion and concomitantly, its direct impact.

Peasant Movements and State Elites in Post-New Order West Java: A Case Study of Sundanese Peasant Union

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 86-108
Author(s):  
Iqra Anugrah
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
New Order ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
West Java ◽  
National State ◽  
Peasant Movements ◽  
Agrarian Reforms

This article is an examination of the case study of the Sundanese Peasant Union (Serikat Petani Pasundan,spp) in post-authoritarian Indonesia. It aims to answer the question of whysppand West Javanese peasant movements in general are able to force local and national state elites to accommodate some elements of agrarian reforms promoted by the peasants. I argue that the new political opportunity structure provides a new opportunity for West Javanese peasant movements andsppto organize as a successful social movement.

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.

The Epistemic Dimension of the Political Opportunity Structure

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Hess
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Genetically Modified Food ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Colony Collapse ◽  
Epistemic Dimension ◽  
Basic Features

The concept of the political opportunity structure from social movement studies has undergone various expansions, including the development of a theory of the industry opportunity structure in social movement studies and of the intellectual opportunity structure in science and technology studies. The chapter then discusses how the theory of the political opportunity structure can be further developed through systematic consideration of its epistemic dimension. This dimension has two pairs of basic features: the level of scientization (the use of technical decision-making criteria) and the extent of public participation in the policy process, and the epistemic culture of risk evaluation (the preference of government regulators for narrow or inclusive methods) and the degree of precautionary preference when making decisions in situations of uncertain evidence. The framework is applied to cases of colony collapse disorder, the regulation of genetically modified food, nanotechnology, the smart meter movement, and climate science denialism.

Insularity or Solidarity? The Impacts of Political Opportunity Structure and Social Movement Sector on Alliance Formation

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Movement Organizations

Past democratization processes revealed a rise of interorganizational collaboration between social movement organizations. This paper investigates this sociopolitical phenomenon by analyzing the conditions under which alliances form within or across social movement industries in the context of democratizing Korea. A negative binomial regression analysis examines the impacts of the political opportunity structure and the social movement sector on different forms of protests: single, intramovement, and intermovement protests. Statistical results show that various dimensions of the political opportunity structure render differential effects, rather than a uniform effect, on alliance patterns. At the organizational level, coalitions and organizational diversity positively affect all forms of protests. The establishment of a strong alliance structure broadly empowers movements by providing a locus of organizational interactions and supports.

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