Nepal: Tarai/Madhesh Movements and Political Elites

2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962095488
Author(s):  
Abi Chamlagai
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure

The purpose of this article is to compare Nepal’s two Tarai/Madhesh Movements using the political opportunity structure theory of social movements. Tarai/Madhesh Movement I launched by the Forum for Madheshi People’s Rights in 2007 became successful as Nepal became a federal state. Tarai/Madhesh Movement II launched by the United Democratic Madheshi Front of the Tarai/Madheshi parties and the Tharuhat Joint Struggle Committee of the Tharu organizations failed as political elites disagreed about the need to create two provinces in the Tarai/Madhesh. While Tarai/Madhesh Movement II confirms that a social movement is more likely to fail when political elites align against it, Tarai/Madhesh Movement II refutes the theoretical proposition. Tarai/Madhesh Movement I suggests that the sucess of a social movement is more likely despite the alignment of political elites against it if its central demand consistently sustains the support of its constituents.

Hollow parties and their movement-ization: The populist conundrum

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1084-1105
Author(s):  
Jean L. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Democracies

This article focuses on the relationship between social movements and political parties in the context of populist challenges to constitutional democracy. There are many reasons for the current plight of democracy but I focus here on one aspect: the decline of mainstream political parties, the emergence of new forms of populist movement parties and the general crisis of political representation in long consolidated Western democracies. This article analyses the specific political logic and dynamics of social movements – the logic of influence, and distinguishes it from that of political parties – the logic of power. It addresses transformations in movements, parties and their relationships. It looks at the shifts in movement and party types that constitute the political opportunity structure for the emergence of new populist movement party forms and relationships, focusing on the hollowing out and movement-ization of political parties. Contemporary populist movement parties are not the cause of the hollowing out or movement-ization of political parties. Rather they are a response to the crisis of political representation exemplified by hollow parties and cartel parties. But it is my thesis that thanks to its specific logic, populism fosters the worst version of movement party relationships, undermining the democratic functions of both.

Political Opportunity Structure, Contentious Social Movements, and State-Based Organizations: The Fight against Solidarity inside the Polish United Workers Party

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
The State ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Studies of social movements have often focused on the role of the state vis-à-vis social movements—in recent times using the concept of political opportunity structure to understand the options available to social movements. This article examines the internal conflicts within the ruling party in Communist Poland to show that a reciprocal process proceeded, in which both the social movement and the state found the choices of action available to them limited by the other, rather than just the social movement. The social upheaval that impacted the entire country brought about the rise of a reform movement within the ruling Polish United Workers Party, which prevented the government from acting as it preferred for a significant period of time. That reform movement, which would not have existed without Solidarity and certainly would not have brought about intraparty changes by itself, saw itself as connected to and dependent upon Solidarity. Party conservatives had to respond to and overcome the reformers before they could turn their full attention to ending the challenge Solidarity presented to the Communist system. In effect, for a time, Solidarity limited the political opportunity structure of the state, while the reverse was also true. While social movement scholars have long considered the possibilities and the limits on possibilities available to social movements because of the state or other external circumstances, this experience demonstrates that similar considerations must sometimes be contemplated with respect to the state.

Enough!

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1011-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rabab El-Mahdi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
First Time

In 2004-2005, for the first time in more than five decades, Egypt witnessed the rise of a protest movement calling for the end of one-party rule. In 1 year, Egypt witnessed more oppositional demonstrations, rallies, and the organization of nonviolent dissident groups than it has seen in the previous 25 years. However, the outcome of this mobilization in terms of democratic opening remained limited and, some argue, negligible. Using social movement theory, which has been unduly ignored by students of democratic transition in the Middle East, and data from fieldwork, the article analyzes the rise, limitations, and potentials of this prodemocracy movement in Egypt. The article argues that changes in the political opportunity structure and relatively successful cultural framing and mobilizing structures pushed for the rise of this movement, but shortcomings on these same fronts limited the movement's expansion and concomitantly, its direct impact.

The Epistemic Dimension of the Political Opportunity Structure

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Hess
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Genetically Modified Food ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Colony Collapse ◽  
Epistemic Dimension ◽  
Basic Features

The concept of the political opportunity structure from social movement studies has undergone various expansions, including the development of a theory of the industry opportunity structure in social movement studies and of the intellectual opportunity structure in science and technology studies. The chapter then discusses how the theory of the political opportunity structure can be further developed through systematic consideration of its epistemic dimension. This dimension has two pairs of basic features: the level of scientization (the use of technical decision-making criteria) and the extent of public participation in the policy process, and the epistemic culture of risk evaluation (the preference of government regulators for narrow or inclusive methods) and the degree of precautionary preference when making decisions in situations of uncertain evidence. The framework is applied to cases of colony collapse disorder, the regulation of genetically modified food, nanotechnology, the smart meter movement, and climate science denialism.

The Political Opportunity Structure and Religion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Felipe Mantilla
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
State Relations

There is growing scholarly recognition of the prominent role that religion can play in empowering, shaping, and constraining political mobilization. Conceptually, religion can intersect with political opportunity structure in two general ways. First, it can be a component of the political opportunity structure: degrees of religious diversity, varieties of religion-state relations, levels of religiosity, and prevailing religious norms can substantially affect how social movements mobilize supporters. Second, religion can be an attribute of movements operating within a given political opportunity structure: a set of distinctive frames and resources available to religious actors that are unavailable to their secular counterparts. Understanding the intersection of religion and political opportunity structure requires addressing both of these dimensions of religion. One key challenge derives from the diversity of religious beliefs and organizations across and within faith traditions. There is persistent scholarly disagreement regarding the importance of specific ideological or doctrinal tenets and how these shape the salience of particular religions as both a component of the political opportunity structure and as a set of resources available to social movements. Scholarly understanding of these dynamics is hampered by the limited amount of research across faith traditions. Works focusing on Catholic, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, or Protestant movements, among others, tend to emphasize different features of religion, in ways that make their findings hard to aggregate. Despite this and other challenges, the consolidation of religion as a topic of scholarly attention has resulted in increasingly sophisticated arguments and improved the scope and quality of data on religion and politics. Scholars now have access to a variety of global, regional, and national surveys that describe patterns of religious belief, behavior, and belonging. There is also a growing repertoire of country-level measures covering religion-state relations, denominational diversity, and religious conflict. In addition, a growing body of in-depth case studies focusing on particular religious movements and organizations has enriched our understanding of the dynamic interaction between religious groups and the institutional, structural, and cultural opportunities they face.

Insularity or Solidarity? The Impacts of Political Opportunity Structure and Social Movement Sector on Alliance Formation

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-eun Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Movement Organizations

Past democratization processes revealed a rise of interorganizational collaboration between social movement organizations. This paper investigates this sociopolitical phenomenon by analyzing the conditions under which alliances form within or across social movement industries in the context of democratizing Korea. A negative binomial regression analysis examines the impacts of the political opportunity structure and the social movement sector on different forms of protests: single, intramovement, and intermovement protests. Statistical results show that various dimensions of the political opportunity structure render differential effects, rather than a uniform effect, on alliance patterns. At the organizational level, coalitions and organizational diversity positively affect all forms of protests. The establishment of a strong alliance structure broadly empowers movements by providing a locus of organizational interactions and supports.

How Students on College Campuses Created Opportunities for Workers in Sweatshops

Contention ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-52
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity Structure ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
College Administrators ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Apparel Companies ◽  
A Chain

Political opportunity structure (POS) refers to how the larger social context, such as repression, shapes a social movement’s chances of success. Most work on POS looks at how movements deal with the political opportunities enabling and/or constraining them. This article looks at how one group of social movement actors operating in a more open POS alters the POS for a different group of actors in a more repressive environment through a chain of indirect leverage—how United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) uses the more open POS on college campuses to create new opportunities for workers in sweatshop factories. USAS exerts direct leverage over college administrators through protests, pushing them to exert leverage over major apparel companies through the licensing agreements schools have with these companies.

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