socialmovements.PDF

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Kandidatnummer/ Candidate number: 247186

UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN/University of Bergen

Institutt for sammenliknende politikk/ Institutt for samanliknande

politikk/ Department of Comparative Politics

Emnekode/Course code: SAMPOL211

Antall ord/Word count: 2584


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Tittel/Title (Oppgavetekst/Essay question)

There are various analytical approaches in studies on social movements and

contentious politics. Please discuss and compare the main elements of the Political Process

Approach and the Strategic Approach. Please also discuss the weaknesses and strengths of

both approaches. Following the Strategic Approach in studies on social movements, we can

identify various dilemmas that Islamist movements face when mobilizing. This is also true for

the Islamic State. Discuss the emergence of the Islamic State and explain one mobilization

dilemma that they faced and the strategic choices they made in response. Please also use

statements from the Islamic State to substantiate your answer.

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Social movements were defined by Tarrow as "collective challenges by people with

common purposes and solidarity in sustained interaction with elites, opponents, and

authorities. Diani and della Porta defined it as well, but they emhpasized the definition as a

social process, in which actors engaged in collective actions are involved in conflictual

relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networks and share a

distinct collective identity." The third definition was presented by Touraine which says that

social movements are "collective actions of actors. Those actors at the highest level - fighting

for the social control of historicity: control of the great cultural orientations by which a

societys environmental relationships are normatively organized. All of those definition

have common elements such as collectivity, contentious mobilization and sustained

interaction with opponent.

Contentious politics is defined by Tarrow and Tilly in Contentious Politics and

Social Movements as episodic, public, collective interaction among makers of claims and

their objects when at least one government is claimant, an object of claims, or a party to the

claims and the claims would, if realized, affect the interests of at least one of the claimants.

Thus, Political Process Approach explains conditions, mindset, and actions that help a

social movement to reach a success in achieving its targets (Crossman. Political Process

Theory... 2014). The political process theories focus on relationship between protest and

institutional political actors. What is more, social movements interact with those actors who

have compact position in the polity (Diani, della Porta 2006, 16).

Political Process Approach is considering the basics of social movements theory and

emphasizes how it works to create a change (Crossman.Political Process Theory... 2014).

According to Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology PPA focuseson the interaction

between several movements attributes, such as organizational structures, political context,

and boarder economic. Political process theory emphasizes the role of political opportunities,

framing processes, mobilizing structures, and protest cycles (Caren 2007, 1).

Those mentioned key components determine social movements success or failure.

The first one, known as political opportunities, is described as the most relevant

component of PPA. Any success of a social movement depends on those aspects and without

them it is impossible to be achieved. These opportunities exist whenever the system faces

vulnerabilities. There are variety of reasons that can result in vulnerabilities arising in the

system.

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Nevertheless it depends on a crisis of legitimacy, where the people do not support the social

and economic conditions maintained by the system. There are some ways that political

opportunity may be driven: broadening of political release to those who were excluded before

like women or people of color, progressive diversity among political bodies and the

electorate, divisions among leaders, and loosening of repressive structures.

The second aspect involves mobilizing structures which are compared with existing

organizations such as political and others, that occur among the community that wants

changes (Crossman 2014). Mobilizing structures can be thought as a resource allowing

contentious acts to be permanent as social movements, and which, quoting the Tarrow in

Power in movement, bring people together in the field, shape coalitions , confront

opponents, and assure their own future after the exhilaration of the peak of mobilization haspassed (1998, 123). Organizations in this model are treated as mobilizing structures for a

social movement. They do it by providing leadership, membership, communication and

social networks to the budding movement.

The third element concerns framing processes which are carried out by leaders of an

organization. They allow the group or movement to clearly and convincingly describe the

existing problems, emphasized why changes are needed, what changes are desirable, and how is

it possible to go around achieving them. In Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements:

Political Opportunities, Mobilizing Structures, and Cultural Framing, McAdam describes

framing as conscious strategic efforts by groups of people to fashion shared understandings

of the world and of themselves that legitimate and motivate collective action.

The last aspect are protest cycles which are also important components of social

movementssuccess. A protest cycle is a period when opposition to the political system and

acts of protest are in a heightened state. That perspective emphasizes the meaning of protests

as the important expressions of the views and demands according to mobilizing structures

connected to the movement. It is also compared to vehicles that expressing the ideological

frames connected to the framing process. Thus, solidarity within the movement is

strengthened and the recruitment of new members is helped by taking part in protests

(Crossman 2014).

One of the strengths of the Political Process Approach is that this is the first model, in

contrast to the Classical Model and the Resource Mobilization Model, that gives a social

movement credit for the ability of that movement to organize and focus on changes.

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The rise of social movements was presented as a new framework by the Political

Process Model through the use of push and pull factors. Challengers in the Political Process

Theory are treated by this framework as rational beings making rational choices to launch a

social movement. It means that the mobilization of a social movement is caused by rational

factors. What is more, the PPA presents a framework to analyze the whole process of a social

movement. When there is a need to study the rise and fall of social movement it can be done

easily by studying, for example, the rise and fall of number of collective action events. It

works thanks to the fact that all collective action within a social movement is connected.

Considering the weaknesses within the PPA it is worth to notice that the last strength is

also its weakness - viewing a social movements as a whole - that is because each of collective

action is an individual phenomenon and it is not possible to explain it in regards to the movementas a whole. In relation to social movements, the PPA focuses too much on the long-term process

and is unable to explain the struggles and outcomes of each of collective action events (Calle

2007).

Considering strategic choices it is noteworthy that they are made within a complex set of

cultural and institutional contexts. Those contexts shape the players themselves, the choices made

from among perceived options, and the outcomes. The main entities of these strategic fields are

worthy to mention: simple players and complex players, goals, arenas, resources and skills, and

audience. To make it more clearly there is a need to consider each of those entities.

There are simple players - individuals, and complex players such as groups,

organizations, and other aggregations of individuals. Each player can have allies. There will

always be a way in which alliances decide as unified actors.

Each player will have many goals, every of them more or less explicitly recognized.

Even simple players have goals/motivations that they are unaware of. Complex players have

especially unstable goals, because the most essential goals of individuals and factors can

cause friction in order to replace the goals of the team with them.

Moreover, protest groups and other players are treated symmetrically by a strategic

approach. Each player makes choices, confronts dilemmas, etc. All players are equal, there

isntany environmental degradation.

J.M. Jasper characterized arenas as follows: arenas are se ts of resources and rules that

channel contention into certain kinds of actions and offer rewards and outcomes. They may be

formal and legal at one extreme or informal at the other, relying on traditions and reputations.

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Protestors may launch action within a certain arena (the media or courts, for instance), but

they also think about other possible arenas for future contestation. They ask themselves what

new arenas their opponents can force them into, and what resources and skills they and other

players control for maneuvering in those arenas. Switching arenas is a common way to

surprise opponents, avoid defeats, and increase the value of the skills and resources

controlled. An outcome in one arena is sometimes only a starting point for action in another.

Resources and skills are brought by each player to every arena. Some of them are easy

to transfer across arenas, whereas others are not (specialized skills, for instance). Jasper

defines resources as physical capacities, especially technologies, and themoney it takes to

acquire them.

The fifth and the least entity is the audience. For symbols, statements and actions of

the other player, every player is an audience. All players will want to cause various effects on

different audiences, announce and communicate different messages to the widest possible

extent (Jasper 2004, 5-6).

Strategic Approach may be considered as theory that helps to see a structure that

constrains protestors thanks to ability to examine what they are trying to do. In addition,

Strategic Approach allows for a better comparison of social movements in many different

contexts. We can also apply such approach to broader range of actors: the opponents of

movements, state agents, international or industrial relations, between teachers and students,

children and parents - everywhere, where there is a potential clash of wills and goals. Finally,

strategic dilemmas are not restricted to social movements. They are also a part of

international relations, politics, and even any social interaction, among organizations,

collectivities or individuals that have a potential clash of will.

The weakness is that vast analysis is needed for full researches on strategic choices

and historical cases would highly depend on records we have. We cannot say that strategic

choices are rational - all of intentions players have and actions they take - everything is

filtered through cultural and psychological lenses (Jasper 2004, 10-12).

Summarizing both political process and strategic approaches, we can notice that the main

difference between them is that PPA focuses especially on movements from broad range and

looks at them as a whole and does not care about individual players as Strategic Approach does.

SA also faces particular problems. What is more, in PPA the mobilization of a social movement

is caused by rational factors in opposition to SA in which every decision and

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choices are determined by culture and psychological factors. SA puts an emphasis on looking

more inside the movements and studying, how any success is achieved by looking at various

dilemmas. At the same time PPA focuses on the aspect emphasizing whether movements can

reach a success or not.

We can go back in time to 2003 to find roots of ISI. Then Abu Mosab Zarqawi

founded a group called Tawhid and Jihad which had to confront the US forces in Iraq. In

2004 Mosab Zarqawi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and the name of his group was

changed to Al Qaeda in Iraq. That was a particularly successful time for this group, because it

launched few attacks on the coalition forces which reached their goals and the US and Iraqs

forces were forced to retreat from a Sunni region (Laissouf 2014, 2). In January 2006,

Zarqawis group formed theMujahidin Shura Council, which united Al Qaeda in Iraq and five more organizations that

were operating in the area. In April Zaeqawi showed his face in a video message for the first

time and urged the Mujahidin Shura Council to make the first step in the way to establish an

Islamic State. On June 7, 2006 Zarqawi was killed by a US airstrike (Bunzel 2015, 16). After

his death Abu Omar al Baghdadi became a leader of the Mujahidin Shura Coucil. The Islamic

State in Iraq was declared in late 2006.

Forced by attacks on the US forces and escalating sectarian fights, the US followed a

new strategy to stop the uprising. The leaders of the Sunni were urged to lay down the

weapons and join the Council for the Awakening, created to stop ISI. The leaders agreed to

the US offer which resulted in the Council for the Awakening and the US forces fighting

together against ISIthey were close to bring it to its knees in period from 2007 to 2009. In

2011 there were two relevant events which affected ISI: Arab Spring in Syria and the

withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq.

ISI has been using assassinations and bombing governmental buildings as a retaliation

against Iraqi security forces and the Awaking Councils members. What is more, the then

leader, al Baghdadi, formed a new branch to fight, which is called Nursa Front and led by Al

Jawlani. Al Baghdadi wanted to take over the Nursa Front, but the leader of that branch

refused to resign from his power and he stated that he is loyal to the Al Qaeda and Zawahiri

(the then leader), not to al Baghdadi and ISI. After that al Baghdadi went to Syria and

proclaimed the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham or ISIS.

That development was a major problem for Al Qaeda, because from the beginning it was

emphasized that ISIS would stay in Iraq and Nursa Front in Syria. Meanwhile ISIS took

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over all financial and military sources of Nursa Front and encouraged the other fighting

groups in Syria to join it, which happened soon after (Laissouf 2014, 2-3).

The ISIS can be considered as a dilemma between being naughty or nice. That

dilemma answers the questions such as: Do others do what you want them to because they

love you or because they fear you? Do you ask politely for what you want, or do you disrupt

things? It might depend on which audiences you are trying to please: bystanders usually

dislike disruption, and agents of the state almost always do. Can you get what you want

directly from your targets, before these other players become engaged? Sometimes there are

advantages to hide you real goals. There is also an issue of segregating audiences, useful

especially when you want to sent different messages to different players (Jasper 2004, 9).

In a statement we can read: "I have been appointed to rule over you, though I am not

the best among youIf you see that I do right, help me, and if you see that I do wrong, set

me right. And obey me so long as I obey God touching you. If I disobey Him, no

obedience is owed me from you (Bunzel 2015, 31). The proposition includes a mild and

gentle language to convince potential players and inspire confidence, because radical and

sharp language could deter and discourage potential future members. They are hiding their

real intensions from the public, before whom they try to appear moderate.

Summarizing, there are various analytical approaches in a social movement theory

and contentious politics. The essay considered the issues of the Political Process Approach

and the Strategic Approach, showing their main factors and elements, and comparing them to

each other. It also shows the weaknesses and strengths of both the Political Process and

Strategic approaches. The main elements of the PPA are: political opportunities, mobilizing

structures, framing process, and protest cycles. The main aspects of SA are: both individual

and complex players, goals, arenas, resources and skills, and audience. The PPA is more

focused on organizations, groups and other aggregate community. The SA faces either the

particular or complex players. Another part of the essay focuses on the emergence of the

Islamic State and emphasizes the most relevant events and changes. The last two paragraphs

concern the "naughty or nice" dilemma of Islamic State during their process of formation and

explain what kind of strategic choices were used.

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Bibliography:

1. al-Maqdisi Bayan hal al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham wa al-Muwaqif

alWajib tijaha. 2014. Statement regarding the situation of the Islamic State in Iraq

andSham.

2.

Caren Neal. 2007.Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Political Process Theory.

http://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-

Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdf;

3. Crossman Ashley. 2014.Political Process Theory. An Overview of the Core Theory of

Social Movement. http://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-

Theory.htm;

4.

Jasper, James M. 2004. A Strategic Approach to Collective Action: Looking forAgencyin Social-Movement Choices. Mobilization: An International Quarterly 9 (1);

5.

Laissouf Ayoub. 2014. The Emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria .

https://www.academia.edu/9879796/The_Emergence_of_the_Islamic_State_ISIS_in_

Iraq_and_Syria

6. Porta, Donatella Della, and Mario Diani. 2006. Social Movements: An Introduction.

Blackwell Publishing;

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http://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-Theory.htmhttp://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-Theory.htmhttp://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-Theory.htmhttp://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-Theory.htmhttp://sociology.about.com/od/P_Index/g/Political-Process-Theory.htmhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdfhttp://nealcaren.web.unc.edu/files/2012/05/Political-Process-Theory-_-Blackwell-Encyclopedia-of-Sociology-_-Blackwell-Reference-Online.pdf

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