The Political Consequences of Social Movements

Abstract

Research on the political consequences of social movements has recently accelerated. We take stock of this research with a focus on movements in democratic polities and the United States in comparative and historical perspective. Although most studies demonstrate the influence of the largest movements, this research has not addressed how much movements matter. As for the conditions under which movements matter, scholars have been revising their initial hypotheses that the strategies, organizational forms, and political contexts that aid mobilization also aid in gaining and exerting political influence. Scholars are exploring alternative arguments about the productivity of different actions and characteristics of movements and movement organizations in the varied political contexts and institutional settings they face. Researchers are also employing more innovative research designs to appraise these more complex arguments. Scholarship will advance best if scholars continue to think through the interactions between strategies, organizations, and contexts; address movement influences on processes in institutional politics beyond the agenda-setting stage; situate case studies in comparative and historical perspective; and make more comparisons across movements and issues.

Preelection Mobilization and Electoral Outcome in Authoritarian Regimes*

“…Nonetheless, on rare occasions oppositions can defeat an authoritarian incumbent and achieve a democratic Democratization is one of the more significant consequences of popular mobilizations that has been understudied from the perspective of political process theory, the dominant approach of social movement studies (Tarrow 2012:21). The literature on the consequences of social movements, for instance, has mostly focused on the outcome of policy change since it studies the outcome of movements in the context of consolidated democracies (Amenta et al 2010;Giugni 1998). To fill this gap, this paper builds on the general social movements scholarship and the few existing studies of movements in authoritarian states (Almeida 2003;Goodwin 2001;Wood 2000) in order to theorize the ability for contentious collective action to empower opposition groups and thus affect electoral outcomes in authoritarian regimes.…”

The Role of the Church and Mosque in the Political Mobilization of Black African Immigrants in Finland at the Municipal Level

“…Martiniello argues that in unconventional politics, "political mobilization refers to the process of building collective actors and collective identity" because "demonstrating on your own does not really make much political sense", but when done collectively, it gives strong political meaning (ibid). Also, Vermeersch (2011) drawing from Amenta et al (2010), della Porta and Diani (1999), and Edelman (2001), opines that unconventional political inclusion has deep roots in political sociology, particularly in the study of mass protest and social movements, which has allowed sociologists and political scientists to examine the ways in which protest waves or movements have emerged, how they have developed, and what political impact they have had on policy outcomes, or on political and social change. He argues that people who are mobilized are usually encouraged to come out en masse and defend their collective cause.…”

Movimentos sociais e seus efeitos nas políticas públicas: balanço do debate e proposições analíticas

“…Essa pergunta tem mobilizado a atenção de estudiosos preocupados com os efeitos (resultados ou consequências) políticos de suas ações. Avanços foram feitos na construção de tipologias e na elaboração de modelos explicativos, ainda que as questões mais globais sobre como e quanto movimentos importam em comparação com outros determinantes das mudanças políticas não têm sido resolvidas conclusivamente (Amenta et al, 2010;Bosi, Giugni e Uba, 2016).…”

“…Um segundo modelo pondera que os movimentos sociais operam no contexto de interações com apoiadores e antagonistas e que as características das instituições e das coalizões envolvidas intervêm nos resultados da sua ação (Giugni, 1998). Avanços seguintes apontam que a estrutura de mobilização dos movimentos e a sua interação com o contexto político operam, de modo combinado, na explicação dos efeitos institucionais da ação coletiva (Giugni, 2008;Amenta, 2005;Giugni e Yamasaki, 2009;Amenta et al, 2010).…”

“…Apesar dos avanços em termos da especificação das categorias referentes aos movimentos, a incorporação analítica do contexto político se fez de modo limitado nas análises dos efeitos políticos da ação coletiva (Amenta et al, 2010), a nosso ver, porque não oferece as categorias para operacionalizar a análise do estado nas interações com os movimentos que buscam incidir nas políticas públicas. O artigo busca contribuir com esta lacuna elaborando proposições acerca da complementaridade entre as abordagens de efeitos políticos dos movimentos e o enfoque de polis (Skocpol, 1995) que, sem restringir sua observação a movimentos sociais, assinala mecanismos de interdependência entre atores societários, estatais e instituições.…”