Contentious Politics

Contention

Pursuit of collective goods largely outside of formal political institutions, through diverse kinds of sociopolitical struggles
(social movements, revolutions, etc)

Contentious Politics

Disruptive, direct and highly conflictive ways people advance their claims on elites, authorities and opponents

Revolution

-Effort to dramatically transform society or political structures

-Radical, far-reaching change

Framing Theory of Revolutions

-Frames; Interpretation of issues and events that inspire and legitimize collective action, important activity of movement leader and organizations

-Particular issues are framed to identify injustice, attribute blame and propose solutions

-Core idea of framing is that every type of social action we engage in takes place via “discourse” or “stories” we tell about ourselves, our behaviour and the context

-Discourse - Idea or patterned way of thinking that underpins textural or verbal communications

-Revolution takes place when the idea of revolution already exists as a model for addressing discontent

Three Ways to Conceptualize Framing Theory/Theorists

-Framing theorists highlight the important of cultural factors, movements create cultural meaning as movement leaders and organizations frame issues to identify injustice and attribute blame

-Every type of social action takes place via discourse, which is the story that we tell ourselves about our behaviour and its context

-Framing theorists believe revolution can only take place when participants have a frame for conceiving of it

Political Opportunity Theory (Process Model)

-Features of the political environment that influence movement emergence, development and success

-Activists don’t choose goals, strategies or tactics, rather the political context and set of grievances present themselves

-Political opportunities provide a window of opportunity for collective action, examples include:

1. Access to a political system (openness)

2. Intra-elite competition/elite allies who encourage collective action

3. Declining capability of the state to repress oppositional movements

4. External factors (international/geopolitical pressures)

The theory aims to advance a universal, causal theory of social movements

Everyday Resistance

-There may be barriers to participation in or coordination of social movement activity

-Resistance without organization resources/capacity to solve collective action problems

-Examples; work stoppages, work “slowdowns”, sabotage

Social Non-movements

Introduced by Asef Bayat

-Collective action of noncollective actors

-Lack formal leadership, specific ideology or organizational structures

-Driven by non-ideological factors

-Uses “Quiet encroachment”, silent and pervasive advancement of people on the propertied, powerful or the public in order to survive/improve their lives

Social Non-movement Example

-Urban poor of Hayyel-Sellom, community in Lebanon

-Members engage in incremental grassroots form of activism, like tapping electricity from municipal power lines

Presence-as-Resistance

-Best example is Iranian Women Bicycling Movement

-In the absence of anything resembling formal organization structure or recognizable leadership, and denied the political rights, freedoms and opportunities available to oppositional groups operating in the West

-Making their presence felt by performing in public spaces everyday activities that would be banned by the state

Iranian Women Bicycling

-Huge numbers of female cyclists would ride in public parts of major cities (parks, streets), defying Iranian laws

-Government declared this unlawful, but numbers continued to rise

-Government could not arrest such a large amount, but were fearful of relaxing the rules as it would result in greater social change

-Now, Iranian women bicylcing is common throughout Iran