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Presents a case for a network version of the concept of political opportunity structure, focusing on environmental movement activity in eight communities in Japan. Embeddedness in specific networks shapes political action much more strongly in densely knit societies like Japan than in Western, individualistic societies; in Japan, networks operate mostly in terms of block recruitment rather than individual recruitment, and this holds for both movements and local elites. In particular, vertical ties between elites and citizen strongly shape local political opportunities: it is the presence of ‘breakaway bosses’ (i.e. local leaders who take the protesters’ side) to prove the strongest predictor of success for collective action. The chapter also presents a distinctive theoretical framework, Integrative Structurational Analysis, to link structure and agency.

This chapter reviews existing research about women's political recruitment focusing on women's participation in electoral politics and social movements and civic organizations. Githens proposes an agenda for future research on women's political recruitment that includes attention to the importance of identity politics, reference groups, perceptions of opportunity structures, political role styles, and role models.

Analysis of 579 environmental protest events in Greece, reported in Eleftherotypia during 1988–97, showed an uneven decline of protest during the decade, an overrepresentation of urban environmental claims, and the prominence of nature conservation, pollution, urban, and industrial claims made by both formal and informal environmental groups. Claims involving the health effects of environmental degradation declined, due to a steeper reduction in the reported incidence of grassroots environmental activism. In general, there was limited variation in the tactics used, with conventional protest predominating, followed by confrontation and demonstrations, and rarely by violence. Community activists tended to opt more often for confrontational or violent actions than did formal NGOs. The observed patterns are influenced by the changing political and economic opportunity structure associated with economic liberalization, the pattern of newspaper coverage, and the organization of social space.

This chapter extends institutional theory to analyze processes by which resource‐poor actors initiate new structures within fields of healthcare organizations. Using insights from studies of counter‐movements, political opportunity structures, and social processes, a series of propositions are derived and illustrated using three case studies of institutional change driven by health reform movements: abortion rights, AIDS, and long‐term care. The framework assumes that multiple belief systems (logics) within healthcare fields ensure that institutional arrangements will be challenged, sometimes by reform movements. Five aspects of political opportunity structures support such efforts: organizational fields that are centralized and immature, an open policy context, a decentralized state, neighboring fields of reform activity, and journalistic standards of balanced reporting. Health reform movements are enabled by networked forms of leadership, the development of equivalent capacities to counter‐movements, and leaders framing an array of arguments. Successful reform processes are likely to be slow, highly contested, and result in the new structure being accommodated alongside aspects of the traditional arrangements.

If we are to compare professional politicians in different political systems, we need a conceptual tool that enables us to study functionally equivalent structures and patterns of behaviour in vastly different institutional settings. This chapter argues that the concept of ‘political class’ is very much suited for that role. It goes on to look at different levels of political professionalization (individual, office, institutional, systemic). Setting the frame for the country chapters to follow, it outlines the historical pathway to political professionalism, the institutional context, the size of the political class, patterns of recruitment and political careers, the remuneration of politicians, and recent reform debates as the principal issues to be dealt with.

The conclusion gives an overview of how the changes in citizenship, participation and policymaking that have been part of transitions to democracy are gendered and lays out the circumstances under which gender outcomes can be positive. After summarizing the outcomes in the electoral, bureaucratic, and constitutional/legal arenas, the conclusion outlines the key factors involved in any explanation. Although women's movements are often central in articulating gender issues, more is needed to ensure that those issues are placed on the agenda of the transition and subsequently remain on the policy agenda in the post transition period. Any analysis therefore has to include the political opportunity structure and the roles of key actors and strategic alliances. The conclusion then outlines how the book's arguments fit into wider debates within the study of gender and politics and comparative politics.

This chapter deals with attempts by unions to build coalitions with other movements and institutions in civil society. In the first place, it identifies the functions of coalition-building for unions and notes the types of resource that unions can access through alliance with other civil society agents. Secondly, it develops a typology of union-backed coalitions that distinguishes between vanguard, common-cause, and integrative coalitions. Thirdly, it examines the factors that promote coalition, which range from diminishing traditional union resources, through the availability of coalition partners to the political opportunity structure. This framework is illustrated by comparing patterns of union coalition-building in the five cases of Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the US.

Addresses the question of the relevance the German mixed‐member electoral system has for the party system and for candidate vote, and argues that the mixed‐member electoral system does indeed live up to its German moniker of ‘personalized proportional representation’, in that it provides at once individualized representation of geographic constituencies and proportionality. The analysis proceeds in four steps and discusses the impact of the electoral system on the interparty and intraparty dimensions. The first two sections deal with the impact of the electoral system (a) on the party system, and (b) on voting behavior, with special attention to ticket‐splitting. The third and fourth sections deal with (a) candidate selection and opportunity structures as shaped by the electoral system and the parties, and (b) the likelihood of a district performance‐based personal vote for members of parliament. Concludes with a confrontation of the normative expectations of the founding fathers and empirical reality and speculates about the future of the German party system.

This chapter presents the volume's main argument: that a decentralized organizational structure—constructed through the combination of private and Company trade—was the central pillar of the English East India Company's continued expansion and adaptability over nearly two centuries as a predominantly commercial operation. It delves into the history of the English East India Company and the reasons for its success. Additionally, the chapter also looks at alternative explanations for the success of the company. Finally, this chapter lays out the study's theoretical approach: by considering the micro-level behavioral patterns and opportunity structures that allowed for the development and transformation of the English Company and, through it, larger patterns of global trade.

This chapter proposes a new way of thinking about equal opportunity: opportunity pluralism. The idea is that, instead of literally attempting to equalize opportunities, we ought to work to broaden the ranges of opportunities open to people at all stages in life to pursue paths that lead to human flourishing. To achieve this, the chapter argues that we ought to loosen the bottlenecks in the opportunity structure: the narrow places through which people must pass in order to reach a wide range of paths that open out on the other side. The chapter argues that we ought to build a society with a wide plurality of values, in which many of the goods people value are not positional goods, and where there are many competing sources of authority over both the opportunity structure and questions of value.

This concluding chapter discusses the broader implications of the book's findings for theoretical and empirical scholarship on work and employment, social inequality in the workplace, evaluation processes, and the intersection of social categories. Here, the processes of inclusion and exclusion in the labor market are hardly straightforward. While hiring professionals extract meanings from the nonstandard, mismatched, and precarious work histories on job applicants' resumes, they do so in a complex way. The chapter also articulates key points of interest for policy makers interested in improving the outcomes of working individuals. It concludes by discussing pathways forward for increasing our knowledge about how the nature of work and employment affect the opportunity structure for workers in the new economy.

This chapter maintains that the transition of formal decision rule to the Community method, in combination with a high acceptance of conflict-minimizing special arrangements for cooperation-reluctant member states, has been at the centre of the EU's efforts to mitigate problems associated with the joint-decision trap in the field of justice and home affairs. The role of supranational actors in undermining veto players' positions has been less influential than in other policies, although it has evolved with the entering into force of the new decision rules. Using the Prüm Process of police data sharing as a case study, the analysis illustrates how a group of member states managed to escape from a particular decision-making blockade by promoting an enhanced form of cooperation outside the EU's legal framework.

Chapter 1 situates Greek and Turkish nationalism within the broader picture of conflict-ridden national majorities. It provides key definitions and typologies; it integrates theories of nationalism, social movements and ethnic conflict, aiming to demonstrate major gaps in these literatures. It argues that majority nationalism and the variations in the response of majorities cannot be adequately explained simply by history or long-standing ethnic and religious rivalries. Moreover, theories of ethnic mobilization, which focus on single factor explanations, such as group status, relative (or actual or unexpected) deprivation, fear, and repression, offer an inadequate explanation of the politics of majority nationalism. Following McAdam, Tilly, and Tarrow (1997:152), this chapter argues for an integrated perspective in the study of majority nationalism, noting the conditions and constraints that shape protest, the institutions and mobilizing structures that support it, and the framing processes around which action is perceived and acted out.

Chapter 3 introduces to the political, social and cultural opportunities for the extreme right in Germany, Italy and the United States, pointing at the mix of similarities and differences between the three countries. As the authors explain, Germany and Italy were chosen within a ‘most similar’ logic, where the cases under examination share similarities in most of their characteristics, but some differences in our set of dependent variables (the frames, networks and actions of the extremist right), which are then explained by some contextual differences. The addition of the rather different case of the US extreme right aimed at testing the generalizability of some descriptive and causal inferences that emerged in the previous comparison.

The concept of the political opportunity structure from social movement studies has undergone various expansions, including the development of a theory of the industry opportunity structure in social movement studies and of the intellectual opportunity structure in science and technology studies. The chapter then discusses how the theory of the political opportunity structure can be further developed through systematic consideration of its epistemic dimension. This dimension has two pairs of basic features: the level of scientization (the use of technical decision-making criteria) and the extent of public participation in the policy process, and the epistemic culture of risk evaluation (the preference of government regulators for narrow or inclusive methods) and the degree of precautionary preference when making decisions in situations of uncertain evidence. The framework is applied to cases of colony collapse disorder, the regulation of genetically modified food, nanotechnology, the smart meter movement, and climate science denialism.

When do opposition parties boycott authoritarian elections? When do they mobilize their followers in protest against electoral authoritarianism? This chapters provides a two-pronged response. Opposition actors are reactive, it argues. They respond to existing grievances and opportunities. But they also are creative. They strive to transform given constraints and opportunities. They can do so by publicizing electoral manipulation (the informative role of protest) and by activating institutional threats (the provocative role of protest). The chapter discusses how the twin role it claims for grievances and opportunities (as independent as well as dependent variables) relates to mainstream theories of political contention and collective action. Its empirical data lend credence to both ideas. Electoral protests are adaptive to their societal and institutional environments. They are less likely when their opportunity costs are high. Yet protests are meant to be transformative too. They are more likely when their informative value and their provocative potential are high.

Wondering whethergender mainstreaming really supports the shift to a more gender-egalitarian Europe,this chapter explores the intertwined relation between individual gender role attitudes, gender regimes,and gender cultures in Europe. It investigates how structural aspects, which determine the opportunities available for men and women to achieve their goals, as well as cultural features, which establish socially constructed, predominant family models and legitimised gender roles, contribute to explaining individuals’ beliefs in gender equality. The chapter reports empirical evidence of the positive effect of work-family balance policies, which enshrines the gender mainstreaming principles, on the promotion of gender egalitarian beliefs. Thesepolicies and workplace practices allow working parents to combine their professional and personal responsibilities, directly affecting their opportunity structures. Because of such realistic opportunities, people tend to express more egalitarian views. At the same time, the implementation of work-family balance policies transmits a certain idea of a lifestyle model and family pattern, legitimising them through structural elements that contribute to changing current gender regimes.

This chapter proposes a research strategy for contextualizing legal struggles for human rights in a wider temporal, socio-political, institutional, and dynamic context. Studying the judicialization of matters that were traditionally the domain of public policy is complex, even before taking into account the myriad non-judicial considerations and facilitating or constraining factors that affect processes and outcomes – such as capacity, mobilization, politics, meaning creation, or extra-territorial obligations. The framework presented allows comparative research to proceed in stages, where one phase of data collection answers a set of questions while raising others, and further research addresses new concepts and theoretical concerns. Work of various scholars can thus cumulate iteratively to address complexity in ways that are unfeasible in a single research project.

This chapter examines the concept of “opportunity structures.” Sociologists have argued that certain favorable conditions facilitate the artistic legitimation process—what they refer to as “opportunity structures.” The term is meant to describe exogenous factors that encourage or inhibit collective action. The chapter then explores several exogenous factors that might reasonably have aided or limited the efforts of aesthetic entrepreneurs to access, enjoy, or offer a diverse palette of culture as art. These include forms of economic, political, and technical change, like class formation or dissolution; the liberalization of political and social attitudes; and the emergence or decline of technologies. Changes within the arts sector can also facilitate the diversification of the field. Thus, the chapter also considers the advance of rational management; the professionalization of curatorial and programming department staff; shifts in audience demographics, funding sources, and objectives; and changes in law and regulations.