Legal opportunity structure and social movement strategy in Northern Ireland and southern United States

Abstract

The Civil Rights Movements in the southern United States and Northern Ireland were able to mobilize African Americans and Irish Catholics respectively against minority discrimination. These movements initially displayed very similar goals and tactics, looking at courts to counter institutional discrimination, but in successive stages of contention their trajectories fundamentally diverged. While legal mobilization in the United States constituted one of the pillars of the civil rights strategy of contention, in Northern Ireland legal tactics were supplanted by a transgressive (and at times violent) repertoire of contention. To explain this discrepancy, this article relies on the concept of legal opportunity structure (LOS) as an analytical tool to investigate how a state's legal structure affects social movement legal mobilization. Accessibility to courts, availability of justiciable rights and judiciary receptivity are identified as the three core dimensions of the LOS shaping its degree of openness/closure. The paired comparison of these movements reveal that a closed LOS may narrow down the array of tactical options available to social movements, redirecting activists' efforts towards protest. Conversely, an open LOS may encourage legal mobilization as a viable tactical option and, under certain circumstances, even promote contentious activities.

Negotiating Proximity: Expert Testimony and Collective Memory in the Trials of Environmental Activists in France and the United Kingdom

“…How can we explain the difference in the types of expertise mobilised, and the scales of experience projected? In his illuminating discussion of the UK climate defences, Hilson () argues that we should look to the structure of grievances within the polity as a key variable explaining the incidence of climate change litigation, with industry‐specific grievances (such as against coal‐fired power stations and airport expansion) consequently mediated by political and, especially, legal opportunity structures (such that the emergence, progress, and outcomes of litigation are influenced, if not determined, by the conditions of access to the courts, the availability of potential issue frames, or “legal stock,” and the extent of judicial receptivity; see De Fazio ; Andersen ). Following Hilson's grievance logic, the French case is rather paradoxical.…”

Constitución de 1991, Ley de Cuotas y movimiento feminista: el papel del derecho en la generación de estructuras de movilización

“…Además, inspirada en el modelo del proceso político, ha surgido una literatura que distingue entre oportunidades políticas y oportunidades legales (Andersen, 2005;Wilson & Rodríguez Cordero, 2006;Evans Case & Givens, 2010). Según estos autores, los movimientos sociales recurren al derecho cuando la estructura de oportunidades políticas está cerrada, mientras que las oportunidades legales están abiertas (Hilson, 2002;de Fazio, 2012).…”

“…Por un lado, la literatura sobre marcos de acción ha visto el rol del derecho como marco (Tarrow, 2011, 146;Snow & Benford, 1992;Lemaitre, 2009, 358-359). Por otro lado, la literatura sobre oportunidades legales, influenciada por el modelo del proceso político, ha empezado a teorizar la forma como el derecho abre ventanas para la movilización social (Hilson, 2002;Vanhala, 2012;Wilson & Rodríguez Cordero, 2006;Evans Case & Givens, 2010;de Fazio, 2012;Andersen, 2008). Este artículo busca resaltar otra vía para teorizar el rol del derecho en la movilización social a partir de la teoría de movimientos sociales.…”

Social movement as civic education: communication activities and understanding of civil disobedience in the Umbrella Movement

“…Some researchers, including Tilly (1995), emphasized the importance 2 Francis L. F. Lee of the structure of the political opportunity and the type of regime in shaping the forms of contentious action (e.g., Allam, 2014;De Fazio, 2012). Others focused on the mechanisms of diffusion (e.g., Biggs, 2013) and learning through collaboration (e.g., Wang & Soule, 2012).…”