scholarly journals Emergence of inter-identity alliances in struggles for transformation of the Kenyan constitution

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Mwathi Mati
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Depth Interviews

Struggles for transformation of the Kenyan constitution brought into alliances disparate movements from below, sections of middleclass, and factions of political, economic and religious elites, in challenging the government. The emergence of these alliances presents useful cases for examining the dynamic relationship and politics between these movements, and also for probing social movement theory. Specifically, given the centrality of identity consciousness in movements, how were intrinsic class, religious, gender, generational and ethnic identity interests, contestations and cleavages overcome to enable inter-identity alliances in these struggles? More critically, how relevant are the dominant social movement theories in explaining this phenomenon? Is theoretical straightjacketing useful for analysing movements with such diversity? Drawing from in-depth interviews and existing literature on Kenyan constitutional reform struggles, this paper illustrates how alliances between the different identities and movements were forged to allow for a common struggle. The paper further illustrates that while political opportunity structures explain certain aspects of this phenomenon, framing, civic education and community organising strategies were critical enablers for collective identity formation

scholarly journals Building Rhizomatic Social Movements? Movement-Building Relays during the Current Epoch of Contention

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Nikolaus Funke
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Movement Building ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Shared Understandings ◽  
Current Movement

This article investigates the movement building dynamics of contemporary social movement milieus (such as particular protests, social forums or occupations). It develops the concept of the “relay” to introduce four ideal-type movement building relays understood as distinct movement milieus: clustering relay, networking relay, organizing relay, and transforming relay. Each ideal-type captures different points on a continuum of increasing movement building and thus for generating commonalities, shared understandings and identities, mobilizations and strategies. Focusing on what I call the current “rhizomatic movement epoch,” which ranges from roughly the Zapatistas to the recent occupy-type protests, the relay framework can provide a larger conceptual umbrella or schemata for movement-to-movement transmissions. Moreover, focussing on “the situated” element of movements, the relay seeks to highlight the milieu of cooperation attempts, the physical, social and psychological space, the political-economic and socio-cultural setting, in which actors and groups interact. It focuses on those elements that are between the outside of the broader political economy and political opportunity structures (which arguably pre-structure the particular relay) and the “inside” of intra-group or movement behaviour (which in turn feeds back on the particular relay dynamics). While drawing on selected empirical examples from protests, social forums and networking attempts, this article has a conceptual focus, exploring possibilities by adoption of such a relay lens to further our understanding of movement building dynamics and the temporality of social movements, the current movement milieu and social movement theory more generally. As such, my hope is to raise questions and open further research avenues of interest to social movement organizers and scholars.

How Protesters and the State Learn From One Another: Spiraling Repertoires of Contention and Repression in Ukraine, 1990-2014

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1271-1298
Author(s):  
Olga Zelinska
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Protest ◽  
Technological Environment ◽  
Orange Revolution ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Over Time

This article employs a contentious politics framework to examine the mobilization–repression nexus as it occurred in Ukraine from the 1990 Revolution on Granite, through the 2000-2001 Ukraine without Kuchma campaign and the 2004 Orange Revolution, to the 2013-2014 Euromaidan movement. Comparative analysis of these four cases suggests that developments in both the contentious and repressive repertoires resembled spirals: each campaign became more complex and of longer duration than the last, and each was driven by the repeated protester–government interactions and by the political, economic, and technological environment that changed over time. In the transit from autocracy to democracy, Ukrainian activists adopted and “normalized” political protest much more quickly than did the authorities. The activists creatively innovated as they borrowed from earlier dissent traditions and from other social movements abroad. For the government, the process of learning how to manage contention with means other than their usual repression tactics was much longer, and it is not over. As it slowly transits from Soviet past to democracy, Ukraine continues its development into a “social movement society.”

Organizing Women in Contemporary Russia: Engendering Transition. By Valerie Sperling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 303p. $59.95 cloth, $22.95 paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 506-507
Author(s):  
Rebecca Kay
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Model ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic

In the introduction, Valerie Sperling notes that "Russia's transition from communism toward capitalism and a more democratic political arrangement has been both good and bad for women, presenting both obstacles and opportunities for organizing" (p. 7). She goes on to produce an engaging and thought-provoking analysis aimed at broadening the scope and explanatory power of social movement theory, which, she argues, has been developed by scholars who focus primarily on social movements in the "contemporary core democracies" (pp. 52-3). In contrast Sperling develops "a cross-cultural model of social movement organizing and development that explores five interrelated opportunity structures: socio-cultural or attitudinal, political, economic, political-historical, and international" (p. 53). In each subse- quent chapter she tackles one of these opportunity structures and offers a number of fascinating insights into the world of post-Soviet social movements, based on the experience of her sample of women's organizations.

Buying an Activist Identity: Reproducing Class through Social Movement Philanthropy

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ira Silver
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Resource Mobilization ◽  
Racial Privilege ◽  
Community Organizers

Those who lack the financial means to organize for social change may turn to elite funders, yet in doing so risk having their goals co-opted. Activist philanthropy minimizes this threat because its grant decisions are made by movement insiders. This structure leaves donors occupying a precarious position. Their money is essential, yet their class position is discrediting. The Crossroads Fund raises its money by integrating donors as activists alongside community organizers. Even though community organizers have greater power inside the foundation, integrating donors requires that community organizers defer to donors' wider class and racial privilege. By showing that securing funding from donors hinges on legitimating their identity claims, this study bridges social movement theories about resource mobilization and collective identity formation.

Protest Movements Against Sanctuaries in Odisha: Politics with Other Means

2021 ◽  
pp. 026272802110348
Author(s):  
Sthitapragyan Ray
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Political Economic

This study seeks to counter interpretations of tribal movements as reflecting parochial and perverse ethno-territorial aspirations, mostly in irrational violent forms. It compares two peaceful protest movements against wildlife sanctuaries located in different geographical and political-economic settings in the eastern Indian state of Odisha. As rational collective actions, both movements relied on the agency of project-affected persons who questioned state attempts to de-politicise development in the name of scientific conservation. The study shows how the legitimate concerns of such project-affected citizens were overshadowed by politics and the context-specific dialectical interface between three different factors, namely availability of indigenous organisational resources, political opportunity structures and identity construction.

“Are You One of Those Women?” Within-Movement Conflict, Radical Flank Effects, and Social Movement Political Outcomes*

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly J. McCammon ◽  
Erin M. Bergner ◽  
Sandra C. Arch
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radical Flank

Studies of social movement outcomes rarely consider the impact of conflict between groups within movements on the ability of movement actors to achieve their political goals. In this examination of the Texas women's movement from the late 1950s until the early 1970s, we consider the role of within-movement conflict as organized women worked to gain an Equal Legal Rights Amendment. Our analysis reveals that conflict within movements can benefit activists by fueling a radical flank effect and, in the end, helping activists achieve important political goals. Our study also reveals the agency of movement actors as one group distances itself from another to seek political elite support. Such efforts can help activists open largely closed political opportunity structures. We conclude that researchers studying movement political outcomes should consider the potentially beneficial role of within-movement conflict.

scholarly journals Humour and Social Protest: An Introduction

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (S15) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolein 't Hart
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Short Account ◽  
Garment Workers ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
The Individual

In the introduction to this volume, the author explains why social historians should study the relationship between humour and social protest in the past. The following questions are of interest. Under what conditions did laughter serve the cause of the protesters? How did humour strengthen social protest? And to what degree has humour been an effective tool for contentious social movements? Recent developments in the field of social movement theory regarding framing, collective identity, and emotions are combined with insights from humorology. A short account of the individual contributions follow: they range from the Zapatistas in Mexico to Vietnamese garment workers, from sixteenth-century Augsburg to Madrid and Stockholm in the 1990s. The findings point, above all, to the power of humour in the framing of political protest. Humour was used in quite different political opportunity structures, from open democratic societies to harsh repressive regimes. Often, humour furthered the development of the collective identity of a social movement, whereas in several cases humour acted as a powerful communication tool, serving as a true “weapon of the weak”.

Pegida in Parliament?: Explaining the Failure of Pegida in Austria

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farid Hafez
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Movement Organization ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures ◽  
Comparative Content

This article explains the failure of Pegida Austria as a social movement organization by testing three prominent theories of social movement theory: political opportunity structures, ideology, and resource mobilization. The failure of Pegida to play a role in Austrian politics is ascribed to the dominant role the Freedom Party (FPÖ) already plays in the Austrian parliament, the FPÖ’s issue dominance on anti-immigration and Islamophobia in public discourse, and the relative scarcity of individuals capable of mass mobilization outside the spectrum of political parties. The analysis is based on a crucial-case study that does a comparative content analysis of the FPÖ and Pegida platforms to assess the ideology argument. The political opportunity and human resource arguments are analyzed with process tracing. The findings reveal that all three theories jointly help to explain the failure of Pegida Austria.

scholarly journals Charles Tilly, globalization, and labor’s citizen rights

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonina Gentile ◽  
Sidney Tarrow
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Strategic Choice ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Opportunity Structures ◽  
Charles Tilly ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Political Opportunity Structures

Since the 1990s, observers have seen globalization impairing labor’s rights. We take Charles Tilly as an exemplar of this view, subjecting his 1995 article to critical appreciation. We argue that Tilly, known for his work on the National Social Movement, overlooked the fact that some unions under pressure from global neo-liberalism can employ a protest repertoire employing their citizen rights, while others continue to use labor rights. We use port workers, who are directly exposed to globalization, to show how different political opportunity structures and different strategic choices influence these choices. In Sweden, our exemplar of a neo-corporatist system, we find that the employment of labor rights continues to be robust; in the USA, our exemplar of a fully-fledged neo-liberal system, we find much greater recourse to a repertoire calling on citizen rights. Finally, in Australia and Great Britain, countries undergoing a shift to neo-liberalism in the 1980s and 1990s, we show that strategic choice influences how effectively unions adapt to shifts towards neo-liberalism: Australian unions effectively used citizen rights while the British port unions failed to make this strategic shift.

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.

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