Political Opportunity Structure Research Articles

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ISLAMISATION PROCESS IN MALAYSIA AND NIGERIA: A SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY APPROACH

This exploratory, diachronic study compares the politics of Islamisation, which have undergone different patterns of developmentin both Nigeria and Malaysia. Islamisation is defined as an ideological translation of Islamism into policies to “Islamise” the state andsociety by expanding the scope of the application of Islamic laws and principles. Islamisation in Malaysia has been implemented steadily and progressively since the 1980s. It involves the “inculcation of Islamic values” in a wide range of aspects of society, including the economy. The Islamic penal code or hudud enactments were legislated in two states, but held in abeyance due to their unconstitutionality. In contrast, Nigeria observed the sudden and erratic implementation of hudud in 12 northern states in 1999, along with other bureaucratic adjustments. Adopting an interpretative case study approach of the comparative method of Arend Lijphart, we explain the two contrastive case studies of the ideological translation of Islamism by analysing the manner in which various political opportunities and structural constraints in the respective cases have shaped the Islamisation process. Data gathering was based on an extensive review of the related body of literature. Analysis was conducted using a social movement theoretical framework based on a structured, focused comparison. The dynamic conceptualisation of the state as a set of institutions, which is continually and dialectically reshaped by contentious processes, captures how the bureaucratisation and judicialisation of Islam have modified the nature of state structures and the structure of political opportunities, which in turn allows for additional channels of influence for Islamic activists.

Political psychology and the study of LGBTQI+ groups, politics, and policy: Existing research and future directions

AbstractSocial science interest in LGBTQI+ politics and policy has grown in the 21st century. Likewise, the political opportunity structure for LGBTQI+ activists has changed significantly, with historical expansions of legal protections only to be followed by the current period of backlash and retrenchment. In this article, we outline existing and potential research in LGBTQI+ politics and policy employing theoretical perspectives from political psychology. Promising advances in the study of LGBTQI+ politics and policy draw on framework and theories grounded in social and political psychology. Nevertheless, we also identify several significant gaps in the literature including the lack of focus on intersectional perspectives, subpopulations such as intersex people and those born with differences in sexual development, and the psychology of LGBTQI+ people and its relevance for their political attitudes and behavior.

Network dynamics of civil society: a longitudinal study in Malaysia amidst changing political opportunity structures

Network dynamics of civil society: a longitudinal study in Malaysia amidst changing political opportunity structures

Individual legal action as minority activism: Romani Germans in 1950s West Germany

AbstractObjectivesSocial movement theory argues that activist movements emerge when the political opportunity structure is favorable. This article contributes to the literature on social movements and minority activism by showing that individual‐level activism happens even without a favorable opportunity structure.MethodsThe legal journal Rechtsprechung zum Wiedergutmachungsrecht (Case Law on Reparations Legislation), published from 1949 to 1981, reported on West German courts’ decisions about reparations claims appeals. All issues were examined for decisions on reparations claims appeals that Romani Germans submitted regarding West Germany's 1953 federal reparations law, despite the unfavorable political opportunity structure. The number of these appeals is reported, and select cases are discussed.ResultsEvery time a Romani claimant appealed a denied reparations claim, they were, according to feminist definitions of everyday activism, committing an act of activism. Such appeals appear repeatedly in the Rechtsprechung zum Wiedergutmachungsrecht, demonstrating that if scholars look for activism at an individual level, not a group level, evidence shows that members of marginalized minority groups engage in activism regardless of the political opportunity structure.ConclusionsThese findings show that, if individual‐level activism is included in scholarly analyses, it becomes apparent that minority activism occurs even when the political opportunity structure is unfavorable.

Becoming a young radical right activist: Biographical pathways of the members of radical right organisations in Poland and Germany

With the increasing popularity of the radical right, much research has tried to explain the motives of voters. Less attention has been paid to the motives of people to become radical right activists – specifically young people, a group with a high tendency to join right-wing parties. Within the context of the internationalisation of the radical right, this article draws on 28 narrative interviews conducted between 2019 and 2021 with young radical right activists in Poland and Germany, two countries with considerably different political and discursive opportunity structures. We propose to recognise a new motive for becoming involved in political activism: career-oriented individual self-realisation in Germany, as opposed to fulfilling a duty to the nation in Poland. While we identify two different types of radical activism within the different contexts – the (nationalist) anti-establishment populist career type in Germany and the (nationalist) anti-political intellectualism/elitism type in Poland – they both point to the normalisation of the radical right in the two countries.

Age, Political Participation, and Political Context in Africa.

Political participation differs across the age range, but little is known about these patterns outside of developed countries. Political context is a particularly important consideration for all political behavior in Africa, where only a few countries are fully democratic. Drawing from political opportunity structures theory, we investigate how political freedom conditions the age-based pattern of electoral and non-electoral political engagement, as well as protesting. This study merges the fifth, sixth, and seventh rounds of the Afrobarometer datasets, spanning 36 African countries, with country-level data on political freedom from Freedom House. Using multilevel regression models, we examine how political freedom shapes the relationship between age and three forms of political participation. Africans aged from 18 to 60 years and living in non-free countries are most engaged in electoral and non-electoral political activities, though participation begins to drop off markedly past age 60. For protest participation, young Africans living in partially- and non-free countries are the most engaged in protests; yet limited political freedom again means a sharp age-based decline. The impact of political context on the age-participation association is nuanced in ways not anticipated by mainstream research on the developed West. Repressive regimes, while spurring engagement at younger ages, appear to disproportionately deter older Africans from political engagement, especially its riskiest forms. We conclude by calling for more country-comparative gerontological research with careful attention to contextual heterogeneity, particularly in the understudied Global South.

Conceptualizing student movements in Bangladesh post-2013: a qualitative and comparative case study of the Quota Reform Movement and the Road Safety Movement

ABSTRACT Despite the presence of mass grievances and moral indignation against the political elite and the monied class, the social movements in Bangladesh in the last decade, albeit very few, have failed to transform the increasingly authoritarian and claustrophobic political milieu. In fact, the nation has not seen that many movements, notwithstanding serious mass grievances on social, political, and economic issues. This situation poses a paradox. I study two significant social movements’ cases, the 2018 Quota Reform Movement and the 2018 Road Safety Protests, and briefly compare the genealogy of the movements, as well as their success and failure. The study draws primarily on secondary data derived from existing research on the issue and a systematic review of major newspapers in Bangladesh over the relevant period of time for its analysis and supplements it with participant observations and informal interviews. I conceptualize these movements by using a theoretical framework derived from Political Process Theory (PPT). I argue that, although both movements were partially successful, the Quota Reform movement was relatively more successful than the Road Safety Movement. In this paper, I try to address the reasons behind the relative success of one movement over another. By comparing the two movements in tandem, I argue that significant differences in ‘mobilizing structure’ make the difference in the degree of success, given that the ‘framing’ and the ‘political opportunity structures’ were more or less similar for both movements.

Pathways to Authoritarian Adaptation: How State–Society Interactions Push the Window of Policy Change in China

Under what conditions might authoritarian states adapt public policies to social preferences? How could social actors push the window for policy change? How might state–society interactions induce policy change as the practice of authoritarian adaptation? This article utilizes a new database of case evidence and the qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the relationship between state–society interaction and policy change as the practical manifestation of authoritarian adaptation in China. The study presents three approaches to policy change: state–society interactive strategies, policy entrepreneurs and the political opportunity structure. The empirical results reveal three patterns of state–society interaction leading to policy change, while submission is not a viable option for society under state suppression. Media presence may impede policy change, and the diverse functions of social organizations should be related to interactive strategies. In addition, social actors may identify political opportunities through multiround interaction, while the role of joint administration in effecting policy change remains unclear. This study offers a novel understanding of authoritarian adaptation.

Migrants’ Political Participation and Representation in Poland: What Do Political Parties Have to Offer?

Since 2018, Poland has been a net migration country, yet public debates on migrants and migration remain scarce and have been defined by a reactionary nature. This article, adopting a political opportunity structure perspective, focuses on political parties as the main actors shaping opportunities and constraints for migrant political participation and representation in Polish society. Based on a qualitative content analysis of party manifestos and parliamentary debates, and using the deductive thematic analysis framework, this study analysed three types of arguments parties have adopted regarding the admission of migrants. The findings revealed that Polish political parties, failing to see non-voting migrants as promising electoral targets, have weaponised the migrant issue and used it as an element of the partisan battle to attack opponents, especially during the election campaign period, instead of stimulating migrants’ political participation and offering them channels for representation.

Revisiting the Formation and Radicalisation of Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) through Social Movement Theory

This paper uses social movement theory to examine the rise and development of Boko Haram and AQIM into radical groups. Boko Haram and AQIM were initially established as moderate and conservative Islamist groups in Nigeria and Algeria respectively. AQIM was originally a political party – the FIS but changed names to the GIA, the GSPC, and AQIM each with a different modus operandi. Boko Haram was a local organization that has been espousing an anti-system frame alongside violent tactics since 2009. Relying on secondary data, this paper found that the emergence and eventual transformation of Boko Haram and AQIM into radical movements signify the existence of social movement factors of political opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and framing processes in Nigeria and Algeria. Results from content analysis of the data show that while the two movements emerged in two distinct socio-economic and political environments, they were rational actors who continued to utilize the available political structures opportunity, mobilizing structures and framing processes to mobilize and sustain collective actions. It is evident that government repression only made the two groups change tactics and strategies when what they regarded as free spaces diminished at times they gathered material and non-material resources. That coincided with the radical views of some of the groups’ members, the presence of mobilizing structures, and a frame resonance that ensured recruitment into the two movements.

한국 녹색당의 성장 조건에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is to examine the emergence and development of green parties around the world to identify general conditions for their growth and to see if the findings can be applied to the Korean Green Party. In doing so, it explores the requirements of a political party based on the experience of the Korean Green Party.
 The empirical analysis shows that in terms of political opportunity structure, green parties around the world grow into parties that influence the political system when elections are highly proportional and the proportional representation rate is above 40%. However, in the case of the Korean Green Party, the limitations of the quasi-connected proportional representation system with a ‘cap’ clause and the emergence of satellite parties in the 2020 general election resulted in lower electoral proportionality than before, and the proportional representation rate was only 15.67%, which did not have favorable conditions for growth.
 Next, in terms of party leadership, global green parties have observed that green parties grow when they maintain intra-party unity and pursue coalition politics in elections. However, the Korean Green Party failed to create a growth engine during the 2020 general election, as it failed to maintain intra-party unity and pursue coalition politics.
 Based on this analysis, in order for the Korean Green Party to grow in the future, the party leadership should focus its efforts on introducing a more proportional electoral system and expanding the number of seats for proportional representation, while maintaining intra-party unity and pursuing coalition politics.

Super-Networks Shaping International Agreements: Comparing the Climate Change and Nuclear Weapons Arenas

Abstract While research on transnational advocacy networks (TANs) is well established in international relations, knowledge gaps remain concerning TAN collaboration across policy fields. To address this gap, this article highlights how super-networks (networks above individual TANs) emerge across issue areas and explores the tactics utilized to achieve their objectives and shape international agreements. We develop an analytical framework that emphasizes the important interplay between political opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and tactics in understanding how super-networks operate. We apply this framework via a comparative case study approach, analyzing the Inter-Constituency Alliance, whose advocacy brought about the inclusion of human rights language in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, whose activities based on humanitarian principles resulted in the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Contributing new knowledge to TANs research, we identify that super-networks utilize multilevel advocacy activities that draw upon a package approach tactic. Via the package approach, super-networks synthesize multiple voices from different issue areas into one key message grounded in humanitarian framing, thereby enhancing their moral leverage and legitimacy, making it more difficult for states to neglect their concerns.

The Intersection between Islamic Populism and Radicalism in Indonesia: The Rise and Fall of Aksi Bela Islam Movement

This article discusses the role of radical Islamist groups – the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), and the Salafis - in spearheading the populist Islamist 212 Movement. It examines why they were such effective forces in leading the movement and why their role diminished over time, which contributed to the decline of the movement. Drawing on political process theory and the literature on populism, this article argues that the movement faltered because they could no longer play an instrumental role due to the unsupportive structure of political opportunities, disorganized social movement, less relevant framing, and greater social and political pressure to the social movement.

Understanding political learning by scientific experts: a case of EU climate policy

ABSTRACTResearch often explores the role of scientific expertise in policymaking from an externalised perspective, mostly focusing on how policymakers use and abuse scientific expertise through political learning. However, very little is known about political learning by scientific experts. What strategies do they use to maintain and advance their access to, and influence on policymaking? Using process tracing, we illustrate how scientific experts’ access to policymaking is challenged as a policy issue develops. We explore how this nudges scientific experts to engage in political learning and employ political advocacy strategies to enhance science’s role in policy making, corresponding to evolving political opportunity structures. We empirically trace this using the case of EU climate policy development between 1990 and 2022. We identify three main sets of advocacy strategies used by scientific experts: Narrative and semantic (policy issue-oriented), Socialisation (Actors-oriented), and Governance (systems and structures-oriented). In doing so, this article illustrates the political actorness and agency of scientific experts and provides a supplementary understanding to the role of science in public policy and policy change, not only as a function of policymaker’s instrumentalization of science, but also as a function of how scientific experts actively advocate for science’s role in public policy.

Legal Mobilization in the Field of Asylum Law: a Revival of Political Opportunity Structures?

Legal Mobilization in the Field of Asylum Law: a Revival of Political Opportunity Structures?

BEYOND DISBANDMENT OF ISLAMIST ORGANIZATION: EXAMINING THE ADAPTIVE RESISTANCE OF HIZBUT TAHRIR INDONESIA (HTI)

The disbandment of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) in 2017 marked a significant shift in the dynamics of Islamist movements within Indonesia’s political landscape. Although officially banned, the HTI continued to operate in the shadows, employing various camouflage methods. This article analyzes how political dynamics led HTI to its outlawed status and how it adapted in pursuit of its goals amidst the challenges faced. By adopting a political opportunity structure and Islamist ideology as the theoretical framework with the case study as the method, this study scrutinizes HTI’s post-disbandment endeavors at the national level and delves deeper into cases in West Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java. The primary findings of this study reveal that the disbandment of HTI reflected the peak of incongruence between the anti-system ideology they embraced and Indonesia’s political structure. HTI’s ideological drive to exploit electoral events in 2016-2017 eventually put them at a threshold that the ruling authority perceives as a severe threat. HTI struggled to maintain its movement, mixing overt and covert operations, and facing significant pressures and constraints. Its strength is rooted in an Islamist ideology that integrates political and religious beliefs, supported by a disciplined structure. This resilience, seen as adaptive resistance, leverages tactical ingenuity and militancy in response to external pressures and the socio-cultural context in which they operate. Nevertheless, the disbandment has rendered it nearly impossible for HTI to reestablish its expansion in Indonesia’s political arena.

Practicing urban citizenship: housing justice activism from Jakarta’s margins

Notwithstanding the claims to equality associated with (neo)liberal democratic citizenship, capitalist cities are characterized by stark inequalities in access to land and living space. In response, grassroots movements and marginalized residents are struggling for a more socially and ecologically just urbanism. We conceptualize these movements as democratizing cities by practicing urban citizenship, following the tradition of scholarship that loosens citizenship from its confines as a bundle of rights and responsibilities conferred by nation-states on individuals. Such practices seek to realize existing rights rarely extended to marginalized urban residents and advocate for novel rights, e.g. to shelter, place, the city, and a voice in governance decisions affecting residents’ lives. We analyze the strategies and tactics pursued by Jakarta’s housing justice movement from Indonesia's democratization (reformasi) in 1998 to the present, seeking to assert and expand urban citizenship rights. Creatively moving between existing invited political spaces of citizenship and newly invented spaces, depending on political opportunity structures, movement leadership styles and local circumstances, the movement has experimented with strategies and tactics ranging from confrontation to negotiation, signing political contracts with governors, to now seeking to participate in the formal political process. We critically reflect especially on using a political contract to facilitate rights to place and security of tenure in ‘illegal’ kampungs. We conclude by reflecting on the insights our case study brings to how urban poor social movements’ citizenship practices contribute to democratizing cities and advancing socio-spatial justice.

‘Quietist’ Salafis after the ‘Arab revolts’ in Algeria and Libya (2011–2019): Between insecurity and political subordination

ABSTRACT Revolutionary movements, like Salafi-jihadis, often capture public attention. However, as scholars of Salafism have long argued, quietist Salafis are the largest sub-group within, and in many ways the true heart of, Salafism in the southern Mediterranean and beyond. This article has two aims. First, it provides scholarship on Salafi groups in Libya and Algeria not tied to jihadi milieus. Second, it contributes new understandings of Salafi developments in two less-studied countries, namely Algeria and Libya. Via a comparative study of one prominent type of quietist Salafism, known as Madkhalism, in the post-2011 contexts of political transition and civil war (Libya) and limited political liberalization (Algeria), we show that whilst some Libyan Madkhalis partially constrained their rejection of taking up arms or of alliances with ideological competitors, their Algerian counterparts did not. We build on existing scholarship by explaining this divergence at the level of discrete political opportunity structures, both since and prior to the events of 2011, together with intra-Salafi framing competition and core quietist ideological convictions. Overall, we argue that Madkhalism has partially seen a bottom-up-driven shift over the last years that is likely to continue, further reshape the movement, and impact the countries in which its acolytes are embedded.

Exploring Local Political Opportunity Structures: Protest and Social Control in Russia’s Provinces

Abstract Why does the scale and intensity of protest vary so widely across Russian cities? This article answers this question by disaggregating political opportunity structures to consider the interaction between formal and informal political factors through a paired comparison of two similar Russian cities during the turbulent 1990s. Drawing on archival documents, interviews, and an analysis of local media, I argue that the observed variation depends on elite strategies for social control and local governmental institutions. Specifically, when a city’s institutions and political elite strategy match, either with undemocratic institutions and a closed political elite strategy, or with democratic institutions and an open political elite strategy, protests are likely to be small and insignificant. In contrast, when the institutional architecture and political elite strategies mismatch, protests are more likely to be large and intense because there is an opening for protest, but not institutionalized paths for participation.

Mobilisation without opportunity: The UK’s 2020 Black Lives Matter protests

ABSTRACT During the summer of 2020, the United Kingdom, like many countries in Europe, witnessed a strong upsurge in mobilisation for Black Lives. Inspired by protests in the United States following the murder of George Floyd, British demonstrators took to the streets in order to make their voices heard. Peculiarly, they lacked something which we generally associate with substantial episodes of mobilisation: a conducive political opportunity structure. Rather, the political context present in the United Kingdom was generally prohibitive of movement success. This article examines the case of the UK’s 2020 protests to consider how mobilisation can be stimulated despite a palpably politically inopportune context. It draws on contemporary open-source data to characterise and detail the prohibitive structure of political opportunities in the UK domestic setting before laying out three factors that can nonetheless help stimulate mobilisation in such circumstances: quotidian disruption, frame diffusion, and remaindered resources.