Narrating political opportunities: explaining strategic adaptation in the climate movement

Abstract

This article advances theory on social movements' strategic adaptation to political opportunity structures by incorporating a narrative perspective. Our theory explains how people acquire and use knowledge about political opportunity structures through storytelling about the movement's past, present, and imagined future. The discussion applies the theory in an ethnographic case study of the climate movement's mobilization around the UN Climate Summit in Paris, 2015. This analysis demonstrates how a dominant narrative of defeat about the prior protest campaign in Copenhagen, 2009 shaped the strategizing process. While those who experienced Copenhagen as a success preferred strategic continuity, those who experienced defeat developed a BCopenhagen narrative^to advance strategic adaptation by projecting previously experienced threats and opportunities onto the Paris campaign. Yet by relying on a retrospective narrative, movement actors tended to overlook emerging political opportunities. We demonstrate that narrative analysis is a useful tool for understanding the link between structure and agency in social movements and other actors affected by (political) opportunity structures.Keywords Climate change . Narrative . Political opportunity structure . Social movements . Strategy . Structure and agency How do social movements adapt their strategies to political opportunity structures (POSs)? This is one of the most cited questions in social movement research and goes right to the heart of how movements advance social change. However, it is also one of

New kids on the block: taking stock of the recent cycle of climate activism

“…Often, 'first-timers' tend to represent a small minority of participants in protest events (Saunders et al, 2012). However, the survey data from climate strikers in March and September 2019 show that many more respondents (especially among the young) had never demonstrated before (de Moor et al, 2020;Wahlström et al, 2019). Hence, a notable impact of FFF lies in its ability to mobilize so many young people -especially girls and women -who experience activism for the first time, potentially putting them on track to remain politically engaged throughout their lives (Fisher, 2019).…”

“…Like most other forms of political engagement (Dalton, 2017) and despite the common goal of climate action groups to reach beyond the constituency of usual suspects, environmental and climate activism has been dominated by well-educated individuals (Giugni & Grasso, 2015). FFF and XR have entered the scene with a clear aim to reach a broad constituency, yet as overwhelming majorities of protesters were found to have (parents with) university degrees, it seems that they have not been able to dissolve education as a major barrier to participation (de Moor et al, 2020;Wahlström et al, 2019).…”

“…1. Details about the FFF protest survey, which includes interview data from more than 5000 interviewees in 25 cities across Europe, Australia and the US, can be found in our detailed reports (de Moor et al, 2020;Wahlström et al, 2019). We also refer to protest survey data from around 230 interviews with XR activists who were interviewed in the UK using similar methods in April and October 2019.…”

Structure, Temporality, and Theories of Revolution. Reading Alberto Melucci in Revolutionary Saint Domingue, 1791–1804

“…2 One may distinguish between accounts that argue for a "strong" concept of agency, which emphasises purposive action as a central factor of revolutions (see e.g., Selbin, 1999, pp. 3-4;Selbin, 1997, p. 118;McAdam et al, 2004, p. 194;Colburn, 1994) and accounts that argue for a symmetrical focus on structure and intentional agency (see Kamrava, 1999, pp. 318, 333;Foran, 1993, p. 10;Goldstone, 2001, p. 139).…”

“…Melucci's work represents a distinct alternative to the “political process” school and the “political opportunity structure” approach to social movements, which have dominated social movement theory for the last three decades with a strong focus on strategic action (de Moor & Wahlström, 2019; Goodwin & Jasper, 1999, p. 28; Krinsky, 2013, pp. 105–106) 10 .…”