Political opportunity: still a useful concept?

Abstract

Political opportunities refer to those aspects of the political system that affect the possibilities that challenging groups have to mobilize effectively. The aim of this essay is to reflect on some of the shortcomings of political opportunity theory and point to a number of recent developments allowing the concept to remain useful as an analytical tool: discursive opportunities, specific opportunities, perceived opportunities, and the shift from conditions to mechanisms in the study of social movements and contentious politics. It is argued that, if we succeed in adapting it to the new context and incorporating ideas about multilayered opportunity structures, agency, and new forms of governance, then a revised and updated concept of political opportunity along the lines sketched here will keep all its heuristic capacity and remain useful for the study of social movements and contentious politics.