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Álvaro Ramírez Calvo
Supervisor: Dr. Anja van Heelsum
Second reader: Dr. Floris Vermeulen
Master Thesis Political Science
Conflict Resolution and Governance
June 2015
From the Streets to the Ballot Boxes
The Mobilisation in 15M and Podemos
Name: Álvaro Ramírez Calvo
UvA ID: 10863176
Supervisor: Dr. Anja van Heelsum
Second reader: Dr. Floris Vermeulen
Master Thesis Political Science
Conflict Resolution and Governance
June 2015
ABSTRACT
Since 2011, Spanish politics have experienced significant changes from the perspective of collective mobilisation, especially through two prominent phenomena. On the one hand, the development of 15M, a popular movement that emerged as a reaction in the face of the current global economic crisis. On the other, the consolidation of Podemos, a political party whose rationale is inspired by the 15M and has become the third electoral choice since its foundation in 2014. This thesis analyses each means of mobilisation from a micro and macro perspective. Firstly, it discusses the personal reasons that sympathisers and activists hold in relation to 15M and Podemos. On a second step, it also describes how both organisations develop their strategies within the Spanish political opportunity structure. This paper aims to enlighten the debates on the motivations behind collective action and the rising of new political parties in current societies.
Keywords: 15M, Collective Action, Framing, New Social Movements, Podemos, Political Opportunity Structure, Spanish Politics.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Social research is always a collective process. This thesis would not have been possible without the disinterested help of friends, colleagues and relatives. First of all, I have to mention the generous willingness that all my respondents showed. Without them, none of this would have happened. Key informants deserve special mention, since they graciously aided me with the management of interviews and surveys without consideration. I especially want to thank Pablo del Frutal, who helped me to find new respondents, showing infinite patience and kindness, no matter how many times I asked him for new contacts. I also feel very lucky and honoured for having enjoyed absorbing conversations with all my interviewees throughout the fieldwork period. The plurality of perspectives contributed to enrich my insights on a dynamic and complex object of research. This paper is dedicated to them.
The research was also a good opportunity to rediscover old friendships that helped me with some logistical aspects before, during and after fieldwork. All my gratitude goes to Jon, Patry, Eva and Gorka for giving me accommodation in Madrid. It was a fantastic chance for sharing concerns, expectations and remembrances. Also, the proofreaders deserve my warmest admiration. Their priceless comments and insights visibly improved this text and made it more meaningful. Ron, Fraser, Ash, Sean: I am forever in your debt.
The support of professors and colleagues from UvA was also of crucial importance for getting the investigation done. I want to express my appreciation to my supervisor and first reader, Anja van Heelsum. Her invaluable observations encouraged me to carry out this research project until the end. My gratitude extends to all the professors and classmates in the Conflict Resolution and Governance programme. This last ten months have been an incomparable experience that has enabled me to grow both academically and personally.
Lastly, my deepest gratitude is devoted to my family, for their love, help and confidence in every sense. Without the rest of the mentioned, this research would have not been possible. But without you, my whole life would have been meaningless.
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 From the Streets to the Ballot Boxes: Brief Background of the Case 1 1.2 Relevance of the Thesis and Formulation of the Research Question 3
Formulation of the Research Question 4
1.3 Structure of the Paper 4
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 5
2.1 Introduction 5
2.2 Society in Movement 5
2.3 New Social Movements Theory 7
Issues Addressed 8
Organisational Forms 8
Repertoires of Action 8
Social Constituencies 9
Criticisms of the Theory 9
2.4 Political Opportunity Structure 11
Structural Opportunities 11
Contextual Opportunities 12
Criticisms of the Theory 14
2.5 Merging the Theory with the Reality: 15M, Social Movements and Spanish
Political Structure 15
15M as a New Social Movement 15
Collective Action and Spanish Political Opportunity Structure 16
The Repression Paradox 16
Spain’s Degree of Centralisation and Historical Influences 16
Spanish Political Representation System 17
Access to Polity of Social Movements: the Case of PAH 18 2.6 Conceptualizing a 15M-Podemos Community: Complementary Theories 18
Market for Political Activism 19
Framing Analysis 19
2.7 Defining the 15M-Podemos Community: the Construction of a Model 20
2.8 Conclusion 23
3. METHODOLOGY 25
3.1 Introduction 25
3.2 Research Design 25
Surveys 26
Narrative Interviews 26
3.3 Practical Aspects of the Research 27
Sampling and Analysis Procedures 27
Respondents: Who Are They? 28
Access to the Field and Subjectivity 30
3.4 Operationalization 32
4. REASONS FOR MOBILISING 35
4.1 Shaping the Attitudes: a Negative Context, an Opportunity for Action 35
Diagnoses and Expectations 35
A Common Attitudinal Ground? 37
The Influence of Gender, Educational Level and Employment Situation 39
4.2 From Hopefulness to Solidarity: Motivations for Joining 15M 42
Historical, Political and Economic Motivations 43
Emotional Motivations 44
Practical Motivations 45
4.3 The Tool for Change: Reasons for Supporting Podemos 46
The Instrumentality of the Party 46
Affinity Mechanisms 46
4.4 Conclusions 47
5. CONFRONTING THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE 49
5.1 The Spanish POS: Threats and Opportunities for Social Movements 49
Structural Opportunities 49
Contextual Opportunities 52
Other Opportunities 52
5.2 The Decline of 15M, the Rising of Podemos 54
15M: The Evolution of a Ramified Movement 54
Podemos: Impacts and Rearrangements on the Spanish Political Structure 57
5.3 Two Complementary Trends 58
The Negative Trend of 15M: Repression, Disenchantment and Exhaustion 59
Repression 59
Disenchantment and Exhaustion 61
The Positive Trend of Podemos: Opportunity and Critical Alignment 61
Opportunity 62
Critical Alignment 62
5.4 Conclusions 64
6. CONCLUSIONS 65
6.1 Outcomes of the Research 65
Individual Factors 65
Structural Factors 66
6.3 Suggestions for Further Research 67
BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
APPENDICES 76
Figures
2.1Issues, organisational forms, repertoires of action and Social constituencies of
New Social Movements Theory 10
2.2 Structural and contextual opportunities in a given political structure 13 2.3 Community of practices, community of feelings, and Political Opportunity
Structure 21
3.1 Ideological self-position of survey respondents in a scale from 1 (left) to 10 (right) 30
4.1 Comparison of the 15M and Podemos diagnostic frames 38
4.2 Comparison of the expectations towards 15M and Podemos 38 5.1 Agreement on how structural opportunities of the Spanish regime affect social
mobilisation 51
5.2 Perceptions on how contextual opportunities of the Spanish regime affect social
mobilisations 53
5.3 Perceptions on how external powers and media coverage affect social
mobilisations 54
5.4 Expressions of collective action that were a consequence of 15M 55
5.5 Main reasons why 15M lost importance 56
5.6 Affective reactions that, according to respondents, old parties had after the rising
of Podemos 57
5.7 Strategic reactions that, according to respondents, old parties had after the rising
of Podemos 58
Tables
2.1Theoretical framework, relevant theoretical dimensions and secondary research
questions 23
3.1 Age groups of survey and interview respondents 29
3.2 Operationalization of Individual-level variables 32
3.3 Operationalization of POS-level variables 33
4.1 Opportunity, Political Identification and Effectiveness of 15M 36 4.2 Opportunity, Political Identification and Effectiveness of Podemos 37 4.3 Comparison between gender and diagnostic frames within 15M and Podemos 39 4.4 Comparison between educational level and diagnostic frames within 15M and
Podemos 40
4.5 Comparison between employment situation and diagnostic frames within 15M and
Podemos 41
1. INTRODUCTION
This research aims to explain two prominent political events that happened in Spanish politics in the last four years. The first of these occurrences appeared in the spring of 2011 when, in the middle of an economic crisis without precedent, a spontaneous citizen movement (‘15M’1) emerged, occupying the streets of some of the most important Spanish cities, demanding better management of the crisis and setting new frames to conceptualise politics. The second phenomenon is Podemos, a political party that was founded in 2014 inspired by the 15M ethos, and that has enjoyed continued growth,becoming the third electoral choice within the Spanish population. The present thesis, theoretically framed in the study of social movements, is devoted to a dual purpose. On the one hand, studying the causes that individuals have for mobilising within 15M and Podemos. On the other, analysing if the Spanish political structure makes this mobilisation easier or difficult. Therefore, this paper merges individual reasons and structural constraints, employing approaches like the New Social Movements or the Political Opportunity Structure theories.
This chapter is divided in the following way: section 1.1 makes a brief historical review of the appearances of both research objects. Paragraph 1.2 exposes the motivations that have led me to research this topic, and also articulates the main research question. Finally, section 1.3 describes how the rest of the paper is structured.
1.1 From The Streets to The Ballot Boxes: Brief Background of the Case
On 15 May 2011, a myriad of civil organisations demonstrated in about fifty Spanish cities. In spite of the call was made without the support of any traditional party or labour union, it attracted tens of thousands of citizens (Castells 2012: 112). The demonstrations were mostly announced through Facebook or Twitter, and held an economic and political rationale. According to the former, the demonstrations occurred as a reaction to the 2008 global recession, a crisis that severely affected the Spanish economy in terms of unemployment and inequality (Carballo-Cruz 2011; de la Dehesa 2014; Jimeno & Santos 2014). With respect to the latter, the claimants also
1 In allusion to when the mobilisations started, on 15 May 2011. The movement is also referred to
protested for a more transparent and representative democracy and a higher accountability among Spanish political elites.
The first mobilisations became highly successful in terms of public support. Some calculations estimated that 2.2 million people participated in the demonstrations that 15M performed between May and October 20112 (Blanco 2011). Furthermore, the movement also helped in reframing the public agenda, providing “a space for thought (…) to make sense of [the] crisis” (Hermans 2012: 11). 15M also allowed the re-appropriation of the public space as a place for collective expressions (Conde 2013). Other outcomes were the increase of demonstrations along the country3, the spread of new, decentralised social movements or the emergence of new political parties sharing goals with 15M.
One of these parties, Podemos (We Can) was founded on January 2014. Economically sustained with crowdfunding contributions from its sympathisers, it obtained approximately 1,250,000 votes and five seats in the European elections of that year, only four months after its birth. Some of its most prominent members were Political Science professors of the Complutense University of Madrid that had some personal engagement with 15M. Some of the most noticeable features of the party are the promotion of fair wealth distribution or the commitment to participative democracy. Furthermore, Podemos aims to prosecute the corruption in public administrations and political parties, audit the Spanish public debt4, establish a basic income to reduce inequalities or implement a more progressive tax reform, among other initiatives (Tremlett 2015).
Organisationally speaking, Podemos holds an unusual structure, divided among assembly-style ‘circles’ and more formal arrangements: “these circles, built around local communities or shared political interests, could meet, debate or vote in person or
2 Democracia Real Ya (DRY), one of the promoters of the first 15M demonstrations, appealed to a wide
range of people to support the mobilisations: “Some of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us are believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies, others are apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us: corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless, without a voice” (DRY 2011)
3 For some authors, May 2011 was the beginning of a Spanish cycle of protest (Brito 2013). According
to Tarrow (1994), these cycles are defined as phases of heightened conflict and contention that include, among others, a rapid diffusion of collective action, the employment of new frames or the intensified interaction between challengers and authorities, that may end in certain forms of political change. Some examples of cycles of protest are the mobilisations that finished the European communist regimes in the 1980-1989 period, or the appearance of the Arab Spring in 2011.
4 As of 2014, the Spanish public debt was of about !1 trillion, approximately 98% of Spanish GDP
online” (Tremlett 2015). The circles are complemented by more rigid structures that operate regionally and nationally, for which each sympathiser can freely vote or be voted. Furthermore, Podemos is in favour of the transparency of internal accounts, as well as of online voting and debating tools (Iglesias et al 2014).
After the European elections, the voting intention towards Podemos has been progressively increasing between the Spanish electorate, becoming an alternative to a traditional two-party system based in the rotation among a conservative party (PP, People’s Party) and a labour one (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party). Furthermore, the political scenario might change in 2015, since Spain will hold elections at the local, regional and political level along this year5.
Although it has only been thirty months between the disruption 15M provoked in the streets and the electoral surprise of Podemos, it seems Spaniards are living in a totally different age in politics. Thus, as it will be exposed in the following section, this work is justified by a vibrant context that provides scientific, social and personal relevance.
1.2 Relevance of the Thesis and Formulation of the Research Question
Observing the birth of either a social movement or a party is always a fascinating event for Political Science studies. 15M represents an interesting case of analysis because it altered the roots of everyday politics. According to Spain’s Centre for Sociological Research (CIS), often conversations about politics with friends and relatives increased, on average, from less than the 20% in April 2011 (one month before the rising of 15M) to more than the 24.5% in April 2012. Similarly, the CIS discovered that, in the same timespan, the number of respondents that had participated in a public demonstration in the last year increased in ten percentage points, from the 11.1% to the 21.2%. The research institute also found out that there was an increasing disposition for people to get engaged in social and political activities, something striking if we consider that Spain traditionally possesses low rates of public participation (Morales 2005; Sampedro & Lobera 2014: 2). On a similar note, recent analyses from CIS outline the growth that Podemos is enjoying in voting intention6.
5 Actually, local and regional elections were held on 24 May, as I was conducting the research. For a
reflection on how the proximity of elections affected the development of the fieldwork, see section 3.3.
Formulation of the Research Question
This research assumes that there is some kind of relationship between 15M and Podemos. To some extent, the former was the expression of a disenfranchisement and the meeting point for a variety of different voices, whereas the later oriented such disenchantment towards a very specific goal: the access to government. Given that each organisation highly depends on the collective action, I consider that one initial step to describe the relation established between 15M and Podemos involves the analysis of how such mobilisation takes places. Therefore, my main research question is:
“What are the factors that explain the mobilisation in 15M and Podemos?”
This question is relevant in the sense that there is an academic gap in the research of how new means of collective action emerged in the last years in Spain. Although there are plenty of references on 15M (Castañeda 2012; Dufour et al 2013; Sampedro & Lobera 2014), the rising of Podemos is a relatively recent phenomenon that has not been properly approached by academia. Conversely, it is frequent to find press analysis depicting the influences and echoes between Podemos and 15M. Thus, the existence of scientific studies that address how the mobilisation is performed in every case becomes necessary and recommendable. This research aims to be a humble contribution to the existing academic blank.
1.3 Structure of the Paper
The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter 2 exposes the theoretical framework in which the research is based, with an emphasis on New Social Movements and Political Opportunity Structure approaches. Chapter 3 discusses how the methodological decisions were made, including the design of the research and the operationalization of variables. Chapters 4 and 5 report the findings made throughout the research. Finally, Chapter 6 summarises the results and reflects on further inquiries.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I expose a theoretical corpus to understand the objects of research. The current section follows a general-specific logic. Paragraph 2.2 provides some broad and abstract insights from social movements theory, offering an overall description of its most prominent features. Paragraphs 2.3 and 2.4 are devoted to explaining the central theories of this thesis: the New Social Movements and the Political Opportunity Structure. Section 2.5 merges the most pertinent elements of such conceptualisations with the real cases of 15M and Podemos. On its behalf, paragraph 2.6 explores two secondary theories, the market for political activism and framing analysis. Finally, section 2.7 offers a theoretical model that exemplifies the relation between social movements and political parties. This model will become the basis for the methodological operationalization in the next chapter.
2.2 Society in Movement
A commonly accepted idea about societies is that they are complex sets of practices, roles and ways of thinking. According to Jesús Ibáñez, societies are also open systems, since tend to pursue new goals, ideals or values. Consequently, they only preserve themselves through change7 (Ibáñez 2002: 244). Social change can be understood as a readjustment process in the visions, rules and representations within a given society. Currently, one of the most important vehicles for this change are social movements, defined as interactive networks of individuals, groups and organisations that address their claims to civil society and authorities, employing non-conventional means of participation (Casquete 1998: 22). Other authors consider that social movements are collective challenges with a common purpose and solidarity, sustained over time (Klandermans 2001: 269). In order to obtain a thorough definition, some analytical distinctions can be made in relation to the organisational structure, the ideological dimension, the practices and the recipients of social movements.
7 When stating this, Ibáñez shows a clear inspiration from Heraclitus, who reflected upon how
necessary is change to guarantee stability, approximately 2,500 years ago. According to Heraclitus, “Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony” (Heraclitus cited in Wheelwright 1959: 90). Such consideration has been a deeply rooted influence for all the historical approaches that depict societies as a source of conflict and transformation.
According to the organisational structure, movements are usually more decentralised, informal and horizontal than political parties and other actors for social change (Casquete 1998: 22-3). As aforementioned, social movements can be described as networks made of nodes, ties and boundaries (Castells 2012, 2009; Diani 2003), although their structure is also influenced by more rigid elements, like the presence of leaders or the political context (Funes & Monferrer 2004: 36). The resources that a movement can mobilise also play a determinant role (McCarthy & Zald 1977).
The ideological dimension is crucial in order to legitimise the interests of each collective and the relations established with other actors, like for example additional movements and counter movements, public authorities and audiences. This relation is framed under terms of alliance and opposition (Melucci 1996; van Dijk 2006).
Regarding the practices carried out by social movements, these are varied and mostly non-conventional, since they normally imply a disruption in the use of public space. Demonstrations, boycotts or civil disobedience are examples of such practices, as well as others of less direct impact, like petition driving, sending of letters and public meetings. These practices are usually part of coherent and symbolically effective repertoires of action (Tilly 2008) that are maintained throughout time8.
The recipients of social movements can be divided among institutions and civil society. The strategy that these organisations pursue regarding authorities is a dualist one: on the one hand, movements demand certain rights to public institutions, but on the other they also challenge and question those same institutions (Casquete 1998: 22). In turn, civil society is defined as a third space between the economy and the state, composed by families, associations, social movements and means of public communication (Cohen & Arato 1990). Furthermore, one of the main purposes for social movements is to strengthen their social basis, by catching the attention of new followers and reinforcing the positive attitudes of already existing militants (Tilly 2008)9. Finally, for other authors (Gitlin 1980; Gusfield 1994; Hunt et al. 1994), social movements deploy dramaturgic performances that are observed and judged by mixed audiences, formed by mass media, political elites or common people.
8 In relation to how social movements orient their effectiveness, Joseph Gusfield (1994) distinguishes
between linear and fluid movements: the former ones are those which pursue institutional or political change through organised action, whereas the latter ones suggest changes in the way reality is perceived, putting the stress on actions of everyday life.
9 However, some authors consider that these appealing strategies are weakening, since social
This partial description of some prominent elements in the theory of social movements is a telling way to show the conceptual, analytical and methodological complexity that this field of knowledge possesses. Since making an exhaustive exposition of all the theoretical paradigms surrounding social movements would broadly exceed the limits of the present paper, in the following sections I offer a selection of the most pertinent ideas for the present research. Firstly, in order to understand the appearance of 15M in Spain, the New Social Movements paradigm is explained. This is a theoretical construction that outlines the importance of structural causes for the rising of a movement, as well as the innovative practices that it performs and the spread of shared feelings like solidarity or sense of belonging to a certain community. After that, I develop some notions from the Political Opportunity Structure, since the Spanish political environment is a determining factor that explains the evolution of social movements. After that, and in order to make the conceptual framework more comprehensible, these theories will be contrasted with real examples from 15M and Podemos cases.
2.3 New Social Movements Theory
The New Social Movements (NSM) paradigm is a theoretical reaction to the classical and functional approaches that emerged in the first half of the last century. Whereas these latter perspectives are focused on aspects related to how social movements emerge, like the psychology of masses (Le Bon 2000) or the importance of rational choice within social organisations (Funes & Monferrer 2004: 35), the NSM aims to reflect upon the structural processes that explain why certain groups mobilise. This is made through the analysis of contemporary collective organisations that appeared after the Second World War in Western societies. As an illustration, some of these new collective expressions are the environmentalism, the pacifism or the squatter movement, among others. These movements showed the existence of a growing complexity in contemporary societies that enlarged the gap between the “institutional systems of representation and decision making and ‘civil society’” (Melucci, 1985: 790). According to Giddens (2009), there are four aspects that constitute the novelty in the NSM theory: the issues addressed, the organisational forms, the repertoires of action and the social constituencies.
Issues Addressed
The topics covered by NSM are a consequence of the shift in the political values that Western populations experienced two decades after the Second World War (Inglehart 1977). Since the analysis of a social movement implies the examination of the socio-economic structures from which it emerges, the aforementioned examples of new movements are driven by post-materialist values. These values10 are highly related to the improvement in the quality of life, and not so much connected to the material welfare and tangible preservation (Inglehart 1977: 3) 11.
Organisational Forms
NSM are not based in hierarchical structures, like past social movements, but in networks, communicative structures composed of interconnected nodes that challenge power (Castells 2009: 19-20). As believed by Castells, social movements aspire to offer alternate values and goals, by disorganising dominant networks and fostering resistant ones (Castells 2012: 9). That is to say, the main purpose of NSM is to change the cultural codes that reproduce the dominant structures of power. For some authors, this means developing a bottom-up strategy that politicises the public’s daily life (Casquete 1998: 120), instead of developing a more institutional strategy that provokes social change in a top-down process (Giddens 2009). Nevertheless, in doing so, these movements would implicitly recognise the integrity of the economic and political system in which they are immersed. As a consequence, they become organisations with a self-limiting radicalism (Cohen 1985: 664; Papadakis 1988).
Repertoires of Action
Demonstrations, urban campings, sit-ins or alternative festivals are some of the typical performances deployed by NSM. The common feature of these actions is that they are direct, symbolic and non-violent (Giddens 2009: 1017-8). Furthermore, these repertoires are augmented by the employment of new technologies of communication
10 These values can be explained by factors like economic and technological development, increasing
levels of education, the expansion of mass communication, or the presence of new means of political socialisation, among others (Inglehart 1977: 5; Melucci 1985: 790).
11 In the context of the NSMs, post-industrial societies would produce post-materialist values: “the
post-1945 generation (…) had a different experience of work as a growing service sector took over from the old industrial workplaces”, Giddens states (2009: 1017). This deep transformation in the contemporary economic structure would explain the rising of new form of politics, in a similar way as the conditions of capitalist societies elucidated the appearance of either the bourgeoisie revolutions and the labour movement in the 18th and 19th centuries (Tilly 2008: 118-9).
and information, like social networks, email or text messaging. The main purpose of this practice is to provide an abstract space for exchanging resources. The domain of such technologies becomes a crucial aspect for the effectiveness of the mobilisations (Castells 1997: 155). A consequence of this is that NSM have put aside the execution of rituals and ceremonies, mechanisms through which social groups crystallise their solidarity links (Casquete 2009: 26).
Social Constituencies
Finally, these movements appeal to a variety of hypothetical militants, supporters and sympathisers:
Many of the large demonstrations (…) attract a ‘rainbow coalition’ of retired people, students, first-time protesters, feminists, anarchists, socialists, traditional conservatives and many more. (Giddens, 2009: 1018)
This plurality is seen for some authors as an opportunity to create potential alliances between political parties and members from working and middle classes (Offe 1985: 858)12. However, other scholars consider that these political divisions are not of importance for NSM13. In this sense, they consider that current social movements lack specific class references. This is because some of their underlying goals are to transform individuals into active and autonomous subjects, avoiding the identity homogenisation derived from formal institutions like family, religion and social class (Casquete 2009: 28).
As a concluding summary of this review, Figure 2.1 shows a clear picture of the key elements from NSM theory.
Criticisms of the Theory
Once the main attributes of the NSM paradigm have been exposed, let us now turn to some of the criticism that it has received regarding its issues, practices and ideological backgrounds. Firstly, some of the topics addressed by the NSM are not ‘new’: as an example, feminist movements, like the woman suffrage mobilisations, started in the
12 This reasoning is inspired by Alain Touraine’s theories on social change. According to him, social
change is a dynamic and historical process determined by struggles to control the “historicity” (Touraine 1978), or the dominant model within a society.
13 In this sense, some authors outline that NSM is perceived as a product of historical transformations
happening at the macro-sociological level that cannot be conditioned by class struggles (Hunt et al 1994).
last quarter of the 19th century. Secondly, the importance given to the direct action is an influence from previous ideologies, like anarchism, socialism or social liberalism14 (Casquete 1998: 112). Thirdly, the NSM only analyses progressive movements, and not conservative, military or religious ones15. For some authors, this approach is an exercise of self-indulgence (Hunt et al 1994). Fourthly, this paradigm requires more empirical strength, since it is strongly focused on assumptions difficult to measure, like identity-making processes, and not so much on other crucial aspects, like how resources are managed within social movements (McCarthy & Zald 1977). Finally, D’Anieri et al (1990) expose that, although the NSM theory provides a satisfactory explanation on the injustice behind social mobilisations, changes in the political arena are determinant factors in completely understanding the likeliness for the collective action to arise.
Accordingly to this latter opinion, the next section highlights the importance of certain political elements when motivating the appearance of social movements.
14 This would weaken the idea that new movements are post-modern, since all these ideological
influences are undoubtedly modern.
15 Similarly, Lorna Weir states that this theory “underestimates the number and significance of social
movements outside organized labour and socialist parties during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries” (Weir 1993: 96)
• Post-materialist values related to the quality of life
Issues!
• Networks that promote a politicisation of everyday life (cultural approach) or a top-down change (institutional approach)
• Self-limiting radicalism
Organisational Forms
• Direct, symbolic, non-violent
• Employment of new technologies of information
Repertoires of Action
• Appeal to wide, transversal audiences • Family, religion or social class are not central
elements
Social Constituencies
Figure 2.1 Issues, organisational forms, repertoires of action and social constituencies of New Social
2.4 Political Opportunity Structure
In social movements theory, there have been three general answers to the question of why people organise collective mobilisations: because they feel aggrieved, because they have resources to mobilise or because people seize the political opportunity (Klandermans 2001: 270). Let us define in detail this latter factor. According to Tarrow (1994: 85), the Political Opportunity Structure (POS) is composed of consistent dimensions from political context that stimulate collective action. This conceptualisation concludes that social movements interact with the political milieu, a flow of “openings16, weak spots, barriers and resources of the political system itself” (Eisinger 1973: 12).
When defining the nature of the POS, Marks and McAdam suggest employing a “cluster of categorical variables” that explains the wide variety of changes that can happen when the political structures are transformed (1999: 98). From a more analytical perspective, some authors (Della Porta 1995; Della Porta & Diani 1999; Klandermans 2001: 275) distinguish between structural and conjunctural opportunities.
Structural Opportunities
Structural opportunities are the most rigid and stable ones, related to the state strength, the levels of repression or the political representation system (Tarrow 1994: 81-2).
The state strength can be divided among centralised or decentralised countries (Kriesi 1995: 171). This dimension is directly related to how effective states are when executing changes17. Furthermore, how states behave in relation to the demands addressed by challengers is a determinant factor for deploying conventional or non-conventional means for collective action18.
16
The openness (or lack of openness) of a given political system is a key concept to understand whether or not such system allows the participation of social movements in policymaking. It depends on the extent of power concentration and governmental responsiveness. As it is explained in this section, open political systems are those able to delegate power between different institutions while standing sensitive towards mobilisers’ claims, whereas an absence of responsiveness and concentration of power would be a symptom of closed systems.
17 According to this reasoning, a strong –centralised- state would be greatly resistant to social
movements, but at the same time it could easily implement their claims. Conversely, a decentralised state could be more prone to meet the demands from claimants, although its room for implementation would be lower due to multilevel policies (Kriesi 1995).
Repression covers every practice, coming from authorities or counter-mobilisations,
that contributes to block or diminish the activity of a social movement, either partially or totally, violently or subtly (McAdam 1996: 28). Indirect repression also involves collective performances that political regimes tolerate and facilitate (Tilly 1978: 100). According to Tarrow (1994: 95), since “depressing the preconditions for collective action is more effective than its direct suppression” the institutionalisation of collective protest is usually the most adequate way for controlling social movements. Finally, the political representation system is also a substantial opportunity, since it determines which kind of strategy social mobilisations should pursue. According to Jenkins and Klandermans, this factor covers:
Political parties, interests associations, and various social institutions claiming to represent broad constituencies at the center of the interface between the state and civil society. (Jenkins & Klandermans, 1995: 5)
Thus, how many parties exist in a given political scenario, and the electoral mechanisms they have to deal with in order to conquer power are crucial factors to understand this bidirectional19 element.
Contextual Opportunities
On their behalf, contextual chances are related to “political changes that open windows of opportunities for social movements that were closed before” (Klandermans 2001: 275). These political changes are the increased access to polity, the presence of unstable political alignments, changes in a movement’s alliance structures, and the division between elites (Tarrow 1994: 86-8).
The improvement in the conditions of accessing to power is the first incentive for collective action. Hanspeter Kriesi (1995: 171) exposes that the access to power comprehends the degree of separation of power among the executive, legislative and judicial branches; the extent of coherence and internal coordination within public administration; and the level of institutionalisation for direct democratic procedures, like popular legislative initiatives.
conventional forms of protest; but when they are negative, violence or confrontations ensues” (Tarrow 1994: 89-90).
19 Jenkins and Klandermans outline, “How are movement goals and tactics shaped by the ideology,
strategies and policy styles of state managers and party leaders?” and inversely: “Does [the social movement influence] vary on (…) party orientations, and electoral coalitions? Does intense party competition, or voter volatility condition this effect?” (Jenkins and Klandermans 1995: 6)
The unstable alignments are related, in liberal democracies, with the existence of electoral instability. According to Kolb (2007: 59), this can be an incentive for collective action since the success or failure of a social movement depends on the level of congruence of its goals with the preferences held by the majority of the electorate.
Finally, the changes in the influential allies relationship can stimulate the mobilisations because, for challengers, having “allies who can act as friends in court, as guarantors against repression or as acceptable negotiators” can be very positive (Tarrow 1994: 88). On the contrary, the existence of conflicts between elites encourages the unrepresented groups to engage in collective action (Tarrow 1994: 88), since that also brings potential allies.
Social movements, even the most successful ones, are always at risk of decline. According to Tarrow (1994: 191), since movements depend on the mobilisation of external resources; “once the opportunities expand from challengers to other groups and shift to elites and authorities, movements lose their primary source of power”, quickly dispersing into more institutional politics. Furthermore, it should be outlined that the Spanish political structure possesses a set of unique elements that influence the opportunities for collective action. Some of them refer to procedural rules, for instance the electoral system or the parliamentary model, whereas others are more related to the existence of influential actors outside democratic politics. The influence of Spanish political elements in the success or failure of 15M will be thoroughly analysed in section 2.5.
For the sake of clarity, Figure 2.2 summarises the core aspects of structural and contextual opportunities.
• State strength (level of centralisation)! • Repression
• Political representation system
Structural Opportunities (more stable)
• Increased access to polity • Unstable electoral alignments • Conflicts between elites
Contextual Opportunities (less stable)
Criticisms of the Theory
Although the POS theory is very helpful to understanding the institutional momentum within which social movements can develop their strategy, some scholars consider that it offers just a “mechanistic understanding” (Meyer 2004: 126) of political reality. According to these scholars, the POS theory mainly focuses on the relationship between citizens, social movements and the state, dismissing other elements outside of major politics that might incentivise public mobilisations as well. Such elements can be cultural, historical, economic or of any other nature. Furthermore, in spite of existing studies on the forms adopted by actors of socio-political change processes along different historical stages (Tilly 1978), researches framed in the political process theories show a tendency to only analyse Western countries with a long democratic tradition.
Furthermore, and perhaps due to its structural articulation, POS theories also disregard the analysis on how social basis and ideology relate. Social basis consolidate through interpersonal relationships and common experiences (Tilly 2008: 119). These affinity mechanisms are crucial to the consolidation of social movements. Analysing the evolution of the supporters of a movement would provide thorough insights regarding the different intensities of the participation (Ibarra & de la Peña 2004: 11-2), the change from action preparedness to active participation (Oegema & Klandermans 1994; Klandermans 2001; Van Stekelenburg & Klandermans 2013), or the evolution that personal engagement experiences over time (Corrigall-Brown 2012). On its behalf, ideology works as a mediator between all the personal perceptions inside a given social movement. It is key in order to legitimise the interests of each social movement and their contentious relations with the environment, based in tensions and oppositions (Melucci 1996).
In spite of all the previous objections, POS offers an adequate conceptual set for the purposes of this research. This theory, together with the insights from the NSM ideas, draws a thorough picture that explains the space of action for contemporary social movements like 15M. In the next section, I merge these two theoretical bodies with real examples that happened during 15M rising and with some prominent aspects from Spanish politics.
2.5 Merging the Theory with the Reality: 15M, Social Movements and Spanish Political Structure
This paragraph explores the assumptions from NSM and POS theories in a more illustrative way. It discusses the common points between each branch through the practical reviewing of 15M and Podemos risings20.
15M as a New Social Movement
Some core elements from NSM theory are very helpful to explaining the nature of 15M. For example, the issues addressed by claimants (a better political representation, more effective means to fight public corruption, the strengthening of the Spanish welfare state or the risks derived from the privatisations of public education or the national health system) clearly corresponded with post-materialist values (CIS 2011b: 17; Sampedro & Lobera 2014: 11).
Furthermore, the organisational forms employed by 15M were completely decentralised and symbolic, the assemblies and itinerant commissions being the most recognisable performances. Spontaneous street meetings arose here and there, while at the same time the major parties, immersed in the electoral campaign of May 2011, disregarded or minimised the explosion of the movement.
The movement was a success in terms of appealing a transversal audience21 made of students, retired people, housewives or migrants, among others22. Supporters provided those who decided to camp with mattresses and food in Madrid, Barcelona and other cities. As a consequence of the effective use of Facebook, Twitter23 and other digital platforms, the movement spread successfully. Everybody was a node in the transforming network (Castells 2012). Furthermore, the slogans were very creative and fostered powerful mental associations (Pujante & Morales López 2013).
20 As it stands, one explanatory note on the structure of the following pages should be made before
going further. The current section is not a mere repetition of the NSM and POS theories already seen, but a quick chronological review of 15M, and how it relates to them. For a better comprehension, the current section abounds in examples from Spanish political background.
21 According to a survey published in August 2011, approximately 76% of the Spanish population
found the movement claims as “reasonable” (elpais.com 3 August 2011). Similarly, a research carried out one year after 15M rose showed that, as of 17 May 2012, 78% of the interviewees considered that those participating in the movement “were right” (Sampedro & Lobera 2014: 5)
22 For some authors, 15M was the precedent of the Occupy Movement that also took place in 2011 in
several countries, and whose most known slogan was “We are the 99%” (Castañeda 2012).
23 Some examples of hashtags during the 15M mobilisations are #democraciarealya (real democracy
At the beginning of summer 2011, the movement left the public squares, adopting an expanded, decentralised and diversified strategy. 15M arranged assemblies in the neighbourhoods, fostered new groups, like the mareas24 (tides), and supported already established ones, like the PAH25.
Collective Action and Spanish Political Opportunity Structure
Once 15M became more salient for the public opinion, it soon had to face the reactions from the Spanish political regime. Let us review some POS concepts related to the state repression, the extent of Spain’s centralisation, its political representation system and the access to polity of social movements. These elements represent a complex political structure, with many actors of diverse natures exercising power in different manners.
The Repression Paradox
The Spanish order forces intervened several times from the beginning of the movement, in an attempt to repress it. The first detentions happened on 15 May in Madrid, when a group of demonstrators decided to permanently remain in Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s most famous central square. The detentions triggered the massive demonstrations that occurred on 16 May: about 4,000 people decided to stay that day (Barroso 2011). Consequently, the state repression resulted in a paradox: the popular reaction and the birth of the movement. However, it also paid off some encampments once 15M was already established (Amnesty International 2012: 311)26.
Spain’s Degree of Centralisation and Historical Influences
Spain is a de facto federation composed by 17 regions and 52 provinces with unequal competencies. However, this does not necessarily mean that social movements are likely to succeed because of the hypothetical existence of multiple institutional points to appeal powers at a local, regional or national scale. On the contrary, perhaps the existence of a democratic culture that emphasises the importance of collective action
24 Sectorial platforms mobilised against the privatisations and economic cutbacks of services like the
public education or the national health system. They became more known since autumn 2012.
25 Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (Platform for Mortgage Victims), a movement founded in
2009 to fight against the increase in housing evictions (Mangot 2013) and that gained a lot of public attention after 15M.
26 For instance, the police intervened in the Barcelona camp to dissolve it, with a result of 121 people
is more meaningful to that respect. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Spanish is a young democracy affected by two major historical influences: the existence of a dictatorship in the 1939-1975 period27, and the subsequent democratic transition, between 1975 and 198228.
Spanish Political Representation System
The Spanish electoral system is an element of unquestionable importance for understanding its POS. It is composed of fifty-two circumscriptions (the same number as provinces) with very different demographic weight. Each circumscription is given an unequal number of members of Parliament29, which are proportionally distributed. Some consequences of this system are the overrepresentation of the less populated regions (and the underrepresentation of the most populated ones, politically more plural), and that MPs are mostly elected from the two major parties: one right-wing and conservative (PP), and one more social democrat (PSOE). This procedure guarantees a stable system (Síntesis ni análisis 10 January 2013) that excludes minority parties. Precisely, these marginal parties are more prone to be allies of social movements.
At the same time, the Spanish model allows the existence of absolute majorities when one party holds more than 50% of the votes, therefore effectively blocking the parliamentary opposition to the party in government and nullifying the room for negotiation30. As a consequence of this, 15M rejected the legitimisation of already established parties, since most of its followers did not feel truly represented by them31 (CIS 2011b: 11).
27 Franco’s regime, as many other authoritarian experiences throughout the world, repressed the
practice of political opposition and the unofficial collective action.
28 The Spanish democratic transition gave room for a concept recently coined: the “culture of the
transition” (CT), a hegemonic paradigm that emerged in the early days of the democracy. The CT minimised those alternative and critical visions on the new moment (Fernández 2014: 213), becoming a mythical truth in the political, economic and cultural spheres. It was based on an institutional consensus that made the establishment of the Spanish democracy possible (Sampedro & Lobera 2014: 1-2). To some extent, the 15M mobilisations were a reaction against such a cultural system, since the movement considered that the Spanish political institutions were not representative anymore.
29 They can range from one representative for Ceuta and Melilla (autonomous cities in the north of
Africa), to the 36 for the region of Madrid.
30 This element also has an impact in the division of powers. In Spain, the most voted party in
parliament arranges the governmental cabinet. The parliament also has competencies to designate judges in the Supreme and Constitutional courts. At the same time, the executive branch can announce decrees that are, in practice, legislative rules. When a party holds absolute majority, this unequal division of powers is even deeper.
Access to Polity of Social Movements: the Case of PAH
Another controversial aspect of Spanish politics is the restricted access to power for social movements. In Spain, a political tool to overcome the gap between direct and representative democracy is the popular legislative initiative, a mechanism that allows the citizen political participation beyond the electoral vote (Aranda 2006: 189). However, their effectiveness is quite restricted: as of 2004, 34 initiatives had been promoted after 1978, of which only eight were processed at parliament (Aranda 2006: 196). One recent example of a partially successful initiative fostered by a social movement and eventually dismissed by the authorities can be found in 2011. The PAH, one of the social movements that benefited from the 15M explosion, started a petition drive campaign to regulate the mortgages’ lieu in payment for those families who were forced to financial default for life under the current legislation32. The PAH gathered approximately 1.5 million signatures and submitted them to the Spanish parliament in 2013, in order to start a legislative process. Despite all the signatures were accepted, the Popular Party, in power, made a proposal that was totally distorted from the initial purposes defended by the PAH (Garea 2013). Finally, the movement withdrew the popular initiative.
Now that I have related some of the most important theoretical viewpoints to understand the complexity of 15M, section 2.6 is devoted to exposing complementary theories that exemplify possible relationships between 15M and Podemos.
2.6 Conceptualizing a 15M-Podemos Community: Complementary Theories
In order to understand how 15M and Podemos are related, this section explores the hypothesis of a possible community between each of them, explaining the most prominent ideas of the market for political activism and framing theories33. The employment of these theories, along with the already exposed ones, will strengthen and give pertinence to the model of 2.7.
32 In Spain, if a family loses the house because of economic problems, their debt with the bank is still
active.
33 These theories are secondary elements of this chapter. That is why they are presented with less
Market for Political Activism
This concept is based on the idea that social movements and political parties compete for obtaining the support of ideologically similar audiences. In such market of participation, “citizens constitute the demand and organizations the supply and, hence, multiple organizations compete for the activists just as firms compete for clients” (Ramiro & Morales 2014: 507). The market for political activism is a very helpful term in order to understand the relationship established between the demand, conformed by citizens with certain political needs, and the supply, which can be either political parties (Podemos) or other kind of organisations (any social movement derived from 15M).
Carrying on with the economic metaphor, which are the products that political parties or social movements offer to their possible consumers? The main function of social mobilisations is to influence the society, both politically and culturally. According to Manuel Castells, the practices performed by a given movement imply a learning process that becomes an important goal in itself. This is something that 15M showed to him:
The process is the product (….) this is why inefficient assemblies are important, because these are the learning curves of new democracy. This is why commissions exist and die depending not on their effectiveness but on the commitment of people contributing their time and ideas (…) Because they think this non-productivist logic in the movement is the most important mental transformation, they accept the slowness of the process. (Castells 2012: 144)
Thus, the market for political activism insinuates the existence of a symbolic space where political needs are rediscovered, in both cognitive and practical senses, and satisfied by different means of collective action. In our case, the market for participation implicitly means the development of a community of knowledge and practices between 15M and Podemos. However, this community is not only explained by the intersection of the demand and the supply: it also has to share similar framing processes.
Framing Analysis
Erving Goffman, based on the previous work of the anthropologist Gregory Bateson (1972), founded the term frame to define the interpretative schemes that are helpful to “locate, perceive, identify and label” events in the vital space of individuals and communities (Goffman 1974: 21). Some decades after, framing theory was applied to
the study of social movements. According to scholars like Robert Benford and David Snow, such movements promote what is called “collective action frames”: an active process at the level of social construction that directs the mobilisation of a group (Benford & Snow 2000).
The different processes developed by collective frames are diagnostic framing, prognostic framing and motivational framing (Snow & Benford 2000: 616-8), tasks that also appeared in the cases of 15M and Podemos. Diagnostic frames establish the source of grievances and culpable agents (Gamson et al 1982). Prognostic frames articulate possible strategies to revert the injustice. Finally, motivational framing “provides a rationale to engage in collective action” (Gago 2011: 60), that develops a proper discourse for the movement.
In that sense, both 15M and Podemos were an expression of an injustice that clearly differentiated victims (the whole Spanish society) from culprits (the economic powers that provoked the crisis and the political institutions that rule in their favour or, in the case of Podemos, “la casta”34). 15M and Podemos also offered solutions, fundamentally based in redistribution of wealth and the strengthening of basic public services. Finally, motivational framing could be found in the deployment of a complex series of persuasive messages that left a mark within broad sectors of Spanish society and that helped in the sustained evolution of 15M and Podemos. In sum, this framing strategy was crucial for the consolidation of a perceived community between 15M and Podemos, and that I describe in detail in the next paragraph.
2.7 Defining the 15M-Podemos Community: the Construction of a Model
So far, several mentions have been made to the existence of a shared space between 15M and Podemos. The underlying idea of this concept is that both collective expressions share similar social basis, ideological backgrounds and framings. This paragraph describes the model that illustrates such community, merging all the theoretical concepts covered in this chapter and orientating the subsequent methodological steps.
34 “The caste”, is an expression frequently employed by members and supporters of Podemos that
normally designates members from the major Spanish parties that are into politics only for their individual profit.
First, one brief definition of “community” should be made. Max Weber conceptualized it as a relationship in which the participants possess a set of affective feelings that condition the social action (Weber 1964: 33). Communities are also conceptualised as a source of meaning that shape and rationalise the interactions with the environment and the members of the group (Berger & Luckmann 1979; Mattelart 1993: 338).
Following these definitions, Figure 2.3 exemplifies the model. The community of feelings appears at a first stage. In our case, 15M and Podemos’ common ground is founded on a set of emotions (disenchantment, outrage, hopefulness, solidarity, etc.) that are framed according to similar diagnostics, solutions and motivations. Such emotions lead to the development, at a second stage, of specific repertoires of action (Tilly 2008) that encompass performances like assemblies and demonstrations. According to the model, the borders between the social movement and the political party are not rigid, but flexible, meaning that they can grow or shrink. More important to this, is that those borders are also porous: in our case, between 15M and Podemos there are open flows of people, resources, ideas and structures. Nevertheless, those flows are not unidirectional or mechanistically predictable.
Figure 2.3: Community of practices, community of feelings, and Political Opportunity Structure
Once the community of practices has been established, questions regarding what is the best tool to optimise the mobilised discontent may arise. Is a social movement the most adequate mechanism, or would a political party better achieve the objectives drawn?35. The different answers to this question might turn this practical community into a disputed space where collective action is perceived differently, since 15M and Podemos are driven by different goals. Whereas the former intends to persuade society in terms of political awareness, the latter aims to govern36.
At a broader level, the size and flexibility of the whole community depends on the attributes of the Spanish POS, by definition more stable and rigid. According to the model, the more the political structure is seen as a source of opportunities, the easier the growth of both communities. Conversely, the more the Spanish POS is perceived as a source of threat, the more difficult is their evolution. As we have seen in 2.5, the Spanish political environment consolidates a threshold that social movements find difficult to exceed. Nevertheless, the explanations for the success of social mobilisations do not depend only on structural factors: after all, the model starts with the outcrop of individual reasons, properly framed and oriented towards collective action. Therefore, the best way to operationalize this project is from a individual-structural model. This approach pertinently comprehends the complexity of the research object.
At this point, some sub-questions emerge to complement the main research inquiry:
SQ 1: What are the reasons for people to mobilise within 15M and Podemos? SQ 2: To what extent does the Spanish POS make the functioning of such movements easier or more difficult?
Table 2.1 summarises the relation between the theories exposed, their most relevant dimensions and the derived sub-questions. The main theories (NSM and POS) appear in bold letters.
35 The “political outcomes for social movements” (Kolb 2007) outline that, in order to achieve an
efficient social change, movements should provoke some political influence, or even turn themselves into political parties. Under this perspective, Podemos could be considered as a consequence of 15M, since it employs very similar discourses. However, a different interpretation could be that Podemos has partially disabled the social mobilisations in Spain since it became successful after the 2014 European elections, taking resources (for instance, militants and other intangible goods) from social movements. Chapters 4 and 5 will cover this issue.
36 However, some voices consider that Podemos is more a collective expression between a social
The first sub-question is related to the individual level, and it is mainly answered by NSM theory. I have selected the most pertinent dimensions for studying the individual reasons: namely, issues and values, expectations towards 15M and Podemos, and the heterogeneity of their social basis. This process is also directly related to how problems and feelings are assembled, and this is why framing theory is also included in this secondary question.
The second sub-question works at the structural level, therefore making the POS theory the central element. It is divided into structural and contextual opportunities that will explain the room for manoeuvre that social movements have in the Spanish political environment. A nice backing for this theoretical branch is the market for political activism, which provides relevant information on how 15M and Podemos interacted with each other to achieve a stronger position in the Spanish POS. These elements, along with all the methodological issues of the research, will be described in a more nuanced way in the operationalization paragraph of Chapter 3.
2.8 Conclusion
Social movements are, by definition, dynamic realities on the move: and, precisely because of that, finding an appropriated theoretical description might be a very challenging task. This theoretical review, based in the New Social Movements and the Political Opportunity Structure theories, provided some useful insights to understand the nature of a contemporary social movement like 15M, born in 2011 as a reaction to the worsening of the 2007 economic crisis in Spain. Furthermore, it helps in the
Theories Relevant Elements Secondary Questions
New Social Movements
• Issues and Values • Expectations • Social Constituencies
SQ 1: Which are the reasons for people to mobilise within 15M and
Podemos?
Framing • Diagnostic Frames • Motivational Frames
Political Opportunity Structure
• Structural Opportunities • Contextual Opportunities
SQ 2: To what extent does the Spanish POS make the
functioning of such movements easier or more
difficult?
Market for Political Activism
• Interactions between social movements and
political parties !
Table 2.1: Theoretical framework, relevant theoretical dimensions and secondary research
understanding of the Spanish political structure, and how such structure conditions the effectiveness of collective action.
This chapter also merged some theoretical aspects with examples drawn from 15M and Podemos cases. Apparently, the movement was not very successful in terms of appealing the institutional politics, although it had a prominent role in the re-politicisation of common people. As a consequence of the hermetic public structure and the mentioned re-politicisation, Podemos, a political party founded in 2014, emerged in the political arena.
Finally, I proposed the existence of a common space shared by Podemos and 15M, and based in personal attitudes, framings and expectations held by their followers. However, this space is a contentious one, since each organisation may have different perceptions regarding collective action and its effectiveness under the shape of a social movement or a political party. The eventual results of this research will be found among individual and structural reasons, in order to offer an explanation that thoroughly answers the main research question.
