Social Movements, Political Elites and Political Opportunity Structures: The Case of the Woman Suffrage Movement from 1890-1920

Gendered Political Opportunities? Elite Alliances, Electoral Cleavages, and Activity Choice Among Women's Groups in the UK, France, and Germany

“…Women and politics literature tells us very little about other POS though scholars have shown that authoritarian regimes and international institutions facilitate, respectively, movement emergence when other political channels are blocked (Noonan, 1995;Franceschet, 2004) and pressure for domestic change from above (Pollack & Hafner-Burton, 2000;Joachim, 2003). 4 With the exceptions of Baldez (2002) who shows the impact of electoral realignment on the Chilean women's movement and Jeydel (2000) who looks at women's suffrage in the US, the impact of electoral cleavages on women's actions is unknown. Moreover, exclusive of double militancy (see Franceschet, 2004), the literature does not purport why women's groups make different activity choices, and instead concentrates on how POS impact movement framing and policy success (Chappell, 2002;Mazur, 2002;Franceschet, 2004;McCammon et al, 2007).…”

“…Alternatively, scholars consider de-alignment a closed structure for conventional action because as public move away from political expression through political parties, there is less of an opportunity for movements to influence politics through traditional means. Therefore, as de-alignment increases, social groups are more likely to employ demonstrative forms of political expression such as protest (Costain, 1991;Dalton & Wattenberg, 2000;Jeydel, 2000;Rucht & Neidhardt, 2002).…”

“…According to the expectationpunishment axiom, social movements are more critical of political parties with which one would expect them to have the greatest affinity (Poloni-Staudinger, 2005 Similarly, electoral cleavages may be open or closed. As parties face electoral volatility, namely increased competition from other parties, politicians look for new constituencies, contact between social groups and elites typically increases, and legislators may become more willing or able to vote based on personal preference rather than party line (Jeydel, 2000). These phenomena serve as opportunities for movements to work with governments, meaning that conventional activities among movements will increase (Poloni-Staudinger, 2005).…”

“…When confronted with closed POS, that is domestic political institutions that do not favor them, groups are more likely to engage in domestic protest and/or act in larger Gendered Political Opportunities 57 coalitions. Alternatively, when faced with open POS, groups lobby and seek consultation with state officials (Kriesi et al, 1995;Jeydel, 2000;Chappell, 2002;Rucht & Neidhardt, 2002;Banaszak et al, 2003;Poloni-Staudinger, 2008, 2009.…”

“…We also expect women's groups to criticize the Left because of their close affinity for and high expectations of them. Regarding cleavages, we expect women's protests and demonstrations to increase during periods of party de-alignment, defined as when the party-identified portion of the electorate shrinks, when social groups tend to utilize more demonstrative political actions, whereas conventional activities should increase during periods of electoral volatility, defined as when traditional parties are under pressure due to changing electoral identification, when politicians are seeking new constituencies and engage movements in deliberations (Jeydel, 2000).…”