Political Opportunity Theory Research Articles

Testing the Relationship Between Local Context and Immigrant-Serving Nonprofit Strategies

Abstract Studies at the nexus of immigration, organizations, and migrant mobilizations find that the strategies that immigrant-serving nonprofit organizations (INOs) employ differ in cities with disparate levels of immigrant inclusion. Yet studies yield mixed results abound other shortcomings in the literature. This study draws from disparate literatures and theoretical frameworks to assemble an understanding on the interrelations between local context and strategies. I investigate the following questions: how does the level of citizenry inclusion impact the strategies employed by INOs, and do more inclusive cities facilitate or constrain contentious advocacy? I draw from a national sample of INOs to test the empirical relationship. The results have implications for political opportunity theory and future lines of research drawing from this framework. Research, nonprofit practice, and policy implications are discussed.

The Emerging of Patron-Client Relationship in Contemporary Peasant Social Movement Articulation

This paper is a literature review in the study of contemporary peasant social movements. Peasant social movements, especially in Indonesia, are always interesting because of the complex problems that have yet to be resolved. This paper uses a qualitative method with an Integrated Literature Review (ILR) approach. The search for article data was carried out using the Google Scholar database using the keywords: "peasant social movements", "articulation", and "patron-client relationships". Furthermore, articles were sorted based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that have been obtained are then extracted. The study results show that in articulating their interests, peasants often do so by using a combination of internal organizational networks known as resource mobilization theory and external activism better known as political opportunity theory cluster. Articulating their interests through subsequent social movement actors gives rise to patron-client relationships between them. In conclusion, we argue that the emergence of patron-client relationships has an impact on the articulation of interests through social movement actors.

Climate change and the politicization of ESG in the US

ESG, or environmental, social, and governance, is seen by some as an instrument to tackle climate change, and by others as a tool to allow investors to assess climate change risks and opportunities. It has been widely politicized in the US, where Republican critics have characterized it as an attempt by the liberal financial elite to impose a leftist decarbonizing mission on the US economy through an investment risk back door. The current paper explores the way in which ESG has become a, perhaps unlikely, object of politicization by the political right. In doing so, it analyses the meaning of politicization in an ESG context and the various forms it has taken, both discursive and substantive. The paper also seeks to explain why it is that ESG politicization has occurred at particular junctures and draws on political opportunity theory from social movement studies to account for this. It further examines various reactions to the politicization of ESG that have sought to depoliticize it.

How COVID-19 and Racial Justice Protests Influenced Social Workers’ Perceptions of Policy and Political Participation

Abstract Drawing on political opportunity theory, this study examined how the political context created by the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests influenced social workers’ perceptions about social welfare policy and political participation in the summer of 2020. Authors conducted a thematic analysis of the open-ended survey responses of 120 social work practitioners. Regarding perceptions of policy, respondents reported that they experienced new awareness about the breadth and depth of structural racism in the United States; that they held pessimistic views of the government’s ability to mitigate harm associated with the pandemic or racial injustice; and that structural change, including the expansion of the social safety net, was needed. Regarding participation, respondents described how they used new forms of political engagement in part because of social distancing, but even more so because they were motivated by highly visible acts of racial injustice. At the same time, they experienced barriers to participation including a fear that they were not adequately prepared and asked for additional support from social work professional organizations. Respondents believed that more education is needed about racial justice and political action. These findings have important implications for social work education and practice, especially work to promote social justice.

Cycles of labour protests: public and private sector unions' contentious actions

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the cycle of labour protests in Sweden, comparing the contentious actions of trade unions in public and private sectors over 40 years. Prior studies have focused on industrial conflicts or labour protests, but a long-term perspective on the broad protest repertoire across sectors is lacking. The goal is to test the argument of diversification of action repertoire and differences between the public and private sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the grievance and political opportunity theories of social movement research for explaining the cycles of labour protests and differences between sectors in Sweden over 40 years (1980–2020). The unique protest event data are combined with the official strike statistics. The research period includes the globalisation of the economy and two economic crises.FindingsAlthough unions in both sectors have decreased protest mobilisation over time, private sector unions have resigned the most, whereas public sector unions continue to mobilise a diverse set of protest actions. Swedish unions have not replaced strikes with other protest repertoires. The open opportunities have allowed them to use various protests as part of “routine” operations.Research limitations/implicationsProtest event data are derived from newspapers, leading to an over-representation of large events in the urban areas. Future studies should combine data from newspapers with data about online protests.Originality/valueBy thoroughly examining all protest events mobilised by all trade unions in different sectors over 40 years (1980–2020), the paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the cycles of labour protest. The findings should interest industrial relations and social movement scholars.

Queering the Way: Investigating the Relationship Between LGBT+ Advocacy and Policy Advancement

The modern LGBT+ rights movement in the United States has pushed both political and social advancements forward since the mid-twentieth century, furthering the fight for equality. Even as hundreds of anti-LGBT+ bills have been proposed and passed in states across the country throughout the last decade or so, they have remained a force to be reckoned with. This study analyzes the specific tactics used by LGBT+ activists and nonprofits from the mid-twentieth century to present day, through the framework of Douglas McAdam’s Political Opportunity Theory to explain how campaigns or movements are made successful. Political Opportunity Theory, or Political Opportunity Structure, argues social movement success is most dependent on the availability of political opportunities (McAdam, 2013). The study primarily draws on interviews of LGBT+ activists and aligned policy makers, both archived and original, ultimately seeking to determine which advocacy strategies most effectively advance political and social acceptance. Using political theories, previous scholarly literature, and activist interviews, this study found that many factors contribute to the overall success of an advocacy campaign: access to resources, ability to mobilize populations, clear goals and strategy, and strong relationships between outsider activists and political insiders. The goal of this report is to advise the creation of effective policy change inside political arenas and social change both through advocacy and through increased LGBT+ support from powerholders in government, to further promote LGBT+ equality and understanding in the United States.

How do political opportunities impact protest potential? A multilevel cross-national assessment

This article tests the general explanatory power of political opportunity theory for cross-national variations in protest throughout the world, and considers how opportunities influence individual-level characteristics crucial for coalition-formation and campaigns. This study constructs a multilevel model of protest potential, using survey data from individuals across 43 countries, drawn from the fifth and sixth waves of the World Values Survey, combined with political, economic, and cultural factors measured for each country. While many individual factors predicted individuals’ protest potential, a mixture of country-level factors—including select political opportunities—are of general importance. Country-level regime durability and empowerment rights moderated the effect of organization membership, social trust, and political ideology on protest, demonstrating how political opportunity interacts to enhance the impact of individual characteristics relevant to coalition-building and campaigns.

Between Confrontation and Cooperation: Right to Water Advocacy in the Courts, on the Streets, and at the Capitols in the United States

Communities across the United States face a widespread water crisis including risks of contamination, rate increases, shut-offs for non-payment, and dilapidating infrastructure. Against this background, a right to water movement has emerged which has found its strength in coalition-building and collectivity. Activists demand change using the framing of “water is a human right”, socially constructing the right to water from below. Based on more than 25 semi-structured interviews with water advocates and activists, our article explores how movement participants used the human rights framework to advocate for clean and affordable water for all. We used political opportunity theory and conceptions of government “openness” and “closedness” to examine when and how advocates decided to use confrontational and cooperative approaches. We identified a push and pull of different strategies in three key spaces: in the courts, on the streets, and at the Capitols. Advocates used adversarial approaches including protests and civil disobedience, reliance on human rights mechanisms, and to a more limited extent litigation simultaneously with cooperative approaches such as engaging with legislators and the development of concrete proposals and plans for ensuring water affordability. This adaptiveness, persistence, and ability to identify opportunities likely explains the movement’s initial successes in addressing the water crisis.

Aiming for Achilles’ Heel: A relational explanation of the ascendency of pro-nuclear activism in Taiwan, 2013-2020

ABSTRACT Movement-countermovement dynamics have frequently been examined under the lenses of resource mobilization theory and political opportunity theory. This article develops a relational perspective, which is implicit in previous works and complementary to existing perspectives, to analyze how an initially weak countermovement expands and defeats its stronger opponent. The movement’s strength is not determined by its internal characteristics, but is contextually defined by its relationship with opponents. A countermovement gains ground by strategically targeting the opposing movement’s vulnerabilities. This article examines the emergence of Taiwan’s pro-nuclear movement in 2013 and how it succeeded in a 2018 referendum by abolishing a planned nuclear phase-out deadline. Taiwan’s environmentalists’ diffuse concerns, adoption of institutional channels after the 2016 transition of power, and insufficient attention to the climate change issue were all extensively exploited by pro-nuclear activists. As such, Taiwan’s pro-nuclear activists gained ground not because of their strength, but because of skilled exploitation of the weakness of their rivals.

STRATEGI GERAKAN PENERAPAN SYARIAT ISLAM FRONT PEMBELA ISLAM DI MOJOKERTO

This study aims to analyze the movement for the application of Islamic law by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Mojokerto. Mojokerto is a city with strong NU tradition roots as NU Mojokerto is one of the largest Islamic organizations in this city. So far, NU Mojokerto has never carried out acts of violence in the name of religion. However, the strong tradition of NU does not guarantee the development of radical issues in Mojokerto. This study tries to analyze the strategy of mass networking as well as its efforts in implementing Islamic law in Mojokerto. This research is a field study that uses political opportunity theory to analyze the movement. Based on the research, the author found that there were two strategies undertaken by FPI to implement Islamic law in Mojokerto. First, FPI uses democracy to support candidate leaders who are on the same mission as them. In addition, FPI also encourages society to choose a leader who supports the implementation of Islamic law. Secondly, FPI takes an action in doing the raid in particular places around the city. The political opportunities that have opened since the reformation era have made it easier for FPI to mobilize the masses, FPI has the freedom to express its opinion in various actions.

Human Rights and Dissent in Hybrid Environments: The Impact of Shifting Rights Regimes

ABSTRACT Research indicates that social movements are shaped by increased opportunities and threats, yet this work rarely examines environments of intersecting opportunity and threat. This article extends the literature on political opportunity theory by explaining how shifting rights regimes influence the political context of movements. Specifically, we analyze how dissent in Communist Czechoslovakia responded to the expansion and contraction of rights across three political periods between 1948 and 1977. Our research delineates three key features of rights regimes and shows how variation across multiple scales creates “hybrid environments” of political opportunity and threat for social movements.

From Collective Action to Impeachment: Political Opportunities of the Candlelight Protests in South Korea

Candlelight protests were held in 2016 and 2017 in South Korea. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered downtown with candles in their hands, and it is widely recognized as an unprecedented collective action in the history of Korean politics. This study analyzes how the candlelight protests developed and achieved the impeachment of the president. Drawing on political opportunity theory, this paper examines how the political opportunity was formulated in the process and outcome of these candlelight protests. This paper identifies three properties that served as enabling conditions embedded in this case: (1) political freedoms guaranteed in the existing formal institutions; (2) political elites in alignment with the protesters and the rule of law; and (3) low risk of state repression of law-abiding collective action. Overall, the political opportunities were sufficiently established in Korean society for citizens to take collective action and their protests led to the desired outcome.

Collective Action, Foreign Fighting, and the Global Struggle for the Islamic State

ABSTRACT This project examines the global “foreign fighter” phenomenon, in which individuals fight in a foreign conflict. We explore the question – “Why do ordinary people travel abroad to fight and potentially die for a foreign cause?” – by analyzing a dataset of 27,223 foreign fighters from 75 countries who fought for the Islamic State. The statistical results demonstrate that one must draw on three different bodies of collective action theory to provide a robust explanation. The Islamic State’s foreign fighters come from countries that are predominantly Muslim (social network theory), that have greater levels of educational attainment (grievance theory), and that are experiencing elevated levels of domestic political instability (political opportunity theory). These findings have theoretical implications for understanding the international dimension of collection action, most notably regarding international democracy promotion. Whereas a country’s degree of democracy or authoritarianism does not affect the numbers of foreign fighters from that country, the democratization process and democratic transition foster domestic political instability that in turn favors higher numbers of foreign fighters.

Determinants of environmental public participation in China: an aggregate level study based on political opportunity theory and post-materialist values theory

ABSTRACTThe level of public participation in response to environmental issues in China has significantly increased over the past 10 years. This expansion of participation occurred as the government was pursuing legislative and regulatory approaches to address environmental pollution. Factors contributing to the development of environmental public participation are explored based on the political opportunity theory and post-materialist values theory. Two participation styles are used as dependent variables in a panel data framework. The empirical results of an analysis of provincial level data indicate that the degree of openness to participation and economic development level show consistently significant impacts on the levels of different environmental participation styles, thus demonstrating the applicability of the political opportunity theory and Inglehart’s post-materialist values theory in predicting environmental public participation in China. The results also show that other variables, including educational level and environmental pollution level have different or even reverse effects depending on the form of participation examined. In general, the results are consistent with cross-national studies of environmental policy development and political participation.

HOW DO POLITICAL CONTEXTS SHAPE UNDOCUMENTED YOUTH MOVEMENTS? EVIDENCE FROM THREE IMMIGRANT DESTINATIONS*

Drawing on research spanning ten years in three immigrant destinations—Los Angeles, Denver, and Atlanta—we address the question, “How do political contexts shape undocumented youth movements?” To do so, we bring into dialogue social movements and immigration scholarship by providing a framework for understanding undocumented youth activism. Building on political opportunity theory in social movements and segmented assimilation theory in migration studies, we advance the notion of localized political contexts: contexts of varying levels of antagonism and accommodation toward immigrants, which shape the emergence and character of undocumented youth movements. We argue that variegated political, legal, and discursive landscapes shape undocumented activism in three ways: (1) the claims that are made; (2) the targets for these claims; and (3) the strategies and tactics the movement adopts. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of undocumented youth movements given the increasingly hostile political context unfolding at the national level.

Political Elites and Urban Social Movements in Croatia: Political Opportunities of the Citizens’ Initiative Srđ is Ours

The Srđ je nas (Srđ is Ours) citizens’ initiative was the first Right to the City movement in Croatia that was using the political strategy of local referenda against a local infrastructure project. Although more than 80% of voters in the referendum voted against the project, due to the required voter turnout the referendum was not successful. Using the initiative’s official local newspaper and Internet sources about it, I analyze the political activities of the initiative. Additionally, I use McAdam’s approach (1996) to understand the events through political opportunity theory. I analyze events that describe Srđ is Ours’ political context: the referendum law, the excluding strategies of political elites and the role of allies within political elites. Through the analysis of the political context, I argue that the Croatian political system is closed both formally and informally, and that political elites use excluding strategies towards social movements in Croatia.

Dynamic Political Opportunities and Environmental Forces Linking up: A Case Study of Anti-PX Contention in Kunming

While the literature on Chinese environmental politics tends to examine NGO actions and popular protests as two separate facets of environmental activism, such a tendency runs the risk of missing the linkages that have begun to emerge among environmental forces. This new phenomenon is highlighted with a case study of local opposition against the siting of an oil refining plant in Kunming through the lens of political opportunity theory. Two forms of linkages are identified, namely the linkages between local communities and local NGOs and the linkages between local and supra-local NGOs. These linkages emerged and developed through dynamic interactions between political opportunities and contentious actions. Citizen-initiated protests in Kunming pressured the local government to adopt a receptive attitude for the purpose of maintaining social stability, which paradoxically expanded political opportunities for NGO participation. The structural political environment of the locality indirectly facilitated collaboration between local and supra-local environmental NGOs by activating prior social networks among key NGO members. The analysis of the dynamic linkages among environmental forces reflects the prospects of a broader environmental movement and its relation to political contexts.

Opportunity, Resources, and Threat: Explaining Local Nativist Organizing in the United States

I examine variation in nativist organizing through an analysis of the number of nativist organizations in U.S. counties. I make two primary contributions to literatures on anti-immigrant phenomena and right-wing mobilization. First, I investigate the extent to which theories of threat, in addition to resource mobilization and political opportunity theories, further our understandings of nativist mobilization. Pro-immigrant oppositional activism and racist hate resource and organizational bases facilitate this mobilization, whereas a weak economic base, growing working-class base, and increasing Latino political representation constrain it. In addition, the association between nativist mobilization and Latino population change, as well as conservative voting, is curvilinear (inverted U). Nativist mobilization thrives in the presence of low-to-moderate levels of demographic threat, as well as in contexts in which political conservatism is present but weak enough to make the conservative, nativist identity nonnormative. Second, few studies examine nonattitudinal or noninstitutionalized anti-immigrant phenomena. There is little understanding of whether or not social structures facilitating anti-immigrant attitudes and institutionalized anti-immigrant activity similarly influence the presence of anti-immigrant mobilization. Although results suggest that political and cultural threats shape diverse anti-immigrant phenomena, I also point to a unique set of structural conditions beyond threat to explain nativist mobilization in particular.

The Dynamics of Opportunity and Insurgent Practice

Political opportunity theory has proven extremely generative, highlighting the importance of macro-structural shifts in making established authorities vulnerable to insurgent challenge. But as critics point out, political opportunity theory flattens both culture and agency, and has fared poorly in explaining the timing of insurgency. Re-theorizing opportunity as leveraged by particular practices, rather than independently conferring to groups, redresses these limits, revealing the proximate causes of mobilization and influence. For a strategic test, this article revisits the forging ground of opportunity theory. Why did President Harry S. Truman, initially an apologist for the slow pace of racial reform in 1945–46, suddenly become an avid advocate of civil rights? Opportunity scholars argue that macro-structural forces caused Truman to advocate civil rights, generating the opportunity for insurgency by blacks as a group. But event structure analysis reveals how Black Anti-colonialist practices leveraged opportunities afforded by the earlier Progressive Challenge to compel Truman to adopt civil rights advocacy. Civil rights advocacy, in turn, allowed Truman to repress Black Anti-colonialist practices, even while setting the stage for the Civil Rights Movement to come. Different forms of insurgent practice leveraged opportunities created by different institutional cleavages; the same opportunities did not advantage all insurgency by a social group.

Politicians and Social Movements: The Impact of Electoral Victory on Local, National, and Transnational Activism by Hmong Americans in Minneapolis–St. Paul

Political opportunity theory predicts that increased access to the political system benefits social movements by disadvantaged groups. To test this prediction, this paper evaluates the impact of two elected Hmong American officials on social movement campaigns in their community during their time in office. Content analysis of newspaper reports is used to (i) create a sample of nine local, national, and transnational social movement campaigns in the community; and (ii) determine in which of four possible ways the elected officials supported the campaigns: favorable media interviews, speeches at events, event organization, and legislation initiation. Only the two transnational campaigns which mobilized the entire community received all four types of support. The paper concludes that elected officials, even former activists from an ethnic minority community, carefully select the causes they will fully support. After electoral victory, social movements must still actively engage sympathetic politicians in order to turn an opening in the political system into actual access to power.