Legitimacy Management, Preservation of Exchange Relationships, and the Dissolution of the Mobilization for Global Justice Coalition

Abstract

Throughout much of 2001 the Mobilization for Global Justice Coalition (MGJC) planned a series of mass demonstrations targeting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to occur in Washington. DC in late SeptemberThe terrorist attacks of September 11 created a crisis for the 117 social movement organizations (SMO) involved in the broad-based coalition and forced protest leaders to reevaluate their coalition strategy. This analysis chronicles the dissolution of the MGJC and explains the decisions made by SMO leaders to abandon or disband the coalition. By leading their organizations in ways they expected to be perceived as legitimate in the eyes of key allies and supporters, leaders sought to preserve their SMO's core exchange relationships through the 9/11 crisis. At a minimum, leaders sought to insulate their organizations from irreparable harm and position them competitively for the uncertainties of the post-crisis environment. Many organizations made decisions commensurate with homophilous or exemplary organizations in a process resembling "social contagion " while others capitalized on the crisis enhancing their infiuence. This research relies upon participant obser\'ations ofpre-and post-9/11 organizing meetings, examination of coalition documents, and interviews with key MGJC leaders.

Downward Accountability in Unequal Alliances: Explaining NGO Responses to Zapatista Demands

“…For instance, clients can exercise power when donors need fieldwork done (Ebrahim, 2003) or need information (Thayer, 2010). In the case of NGOs, Watkins, Swidler, and Hannan (2012) and Gilham and Edwards (2011) point out, legitimacy is particularly important, since, unlike corporations, they do not measure their success by economic means. Brown (2008) adds that demonstrating accountability can reinforce an organization's reputation and thus play an instrumental role in its ability to mobilize resources.…”

Hybrid Activism: Social Movement Mobilization in a Multimovement Environment

“…They define "social movement spillout" as "the hollowing-out of a social movement when its activists shift their activities to a cognate, but differently structured, movement" (Hadden and Tarrow 2007, p. 360, emphasis removed from original). They find that, rather than stimulating the global justice movement, the antiwar movement and the 2004 presidential election drew the energies of anti-globalization activists into other pursuits (see also Gillham and Edwards 2011). This argument suggests that close ties between allied movements have the potential to undermine the mobilization of one of the movements.…”

“…The disputed election of President George W. Bush in 2000, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ensuing American-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq represented a sea change over the relatively placid 1990s. While, at the beginning of the decade, the attention of activists on the left had been widely dispersed among a plethora of issues -such as globalization, fair trade, abortion rights, and same-sex marriage -many activists quickly redirected their focus toward antiterrorist policies and new U.S. wars (Fisher 2006;Gillham and Edwards 2011;Hadden and Tarrow 2007). Massive street demonstrations throughout the first decade of the 2000s were a major part of the organized response to these rapidly unfolding events.…”

Sampling Social Movement Organizations*

“…Thus, our recommendations may well be more difficult to implement for populations, which are, on the whole, more fleeting, volatile or radical. For example, populations of SMOs actively participating in or providing support for global justice protests (Gillham 2003) or local Occupy Wall Street groups (Caren and Gaby 2011) pose a different sort of challenge because the lists themselves can be fleeting, posted for organizing purposes, and taken down or altered after an event has occurred (Gillham and Edwards 2011). However, despite such challenges, we should emphasize that our comprehensive review of sources allowed us to detect the rather significant diversity of local and state environmentalism including SMOs as small, nonformally organized, and prone to engage in disruptive or confrontational tactics (Andrews and Edwards 2005;Edwards and Foley 2003).…”