Opportunities in action: the case of the US Computer TakeBack Campaign

Abstract

This article examines the rise and consequences of the Computer TakeBack Campaign in the USA, and argues that the campaign's achievements can be attributed to its active engagement with the economic, political, and discursive opportunity structures. First, the campaign changed the political opportunity structure and built political legitimacy for itself. Second, the campaign took advantage of the economic opportunity structure, created the leader/laggard frame, embarrassed its target, and utilized forces of market competition to push the Dell Corporation to change its policy. Third, the campaign created a favourable discursive opportunity structure by mobilizing college students and framing the e-waste crisis as a moral issue. Traditional political process theory has been criticized for being overly structuralist and for focusing solely on political movements. This case study shows that a modified understanding of opportunities can enhance the explanatory power of the traditional approach.