Sabotage, Contention, and Violence in Movements

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

The study of how and why social movements succeed or fail is one of the most important questions of contentious politics. Scholars have long puzzled over the effects of different tactics on movement support, how identity shapes protest, and how repression influences subsequent movement dynamics. This panel focuses on the diverse dynamics within a broad range of contentious social movements. The cases covered include contention over environmental politics, anti-technology movements, and crime, insecurity and lynchings in Mexico. The first two papers focus on the eco direct action movement, with the first paper examining the rise and fall of the U.S. movement and its sabotage tactics (Zeitzoff), and the second looking at how activists see themselves and the acceptability of violence in the U.S. and Canada (Brown). The third paper examines how identity of power plants triggers protests and contention (Hadden). The fourth paper examines the ontology of anti-technology extremist individuals and groups. The final paper shows how the state responds to citizens and citizens groups challenging its power through lynching of criminals, a common occurrence in Mexico (Baron). Each of these papers takes a unique and multi-method approach including large-n data, case studies, interviews, and surveys. They all investigate theoretically and policy relevant areas of research. Collectively, the panel demonstrates the diverse range of tactics, strategies, and responses to contentious political movements.

Sub Unit

• Division 45: Human Rights

Individual Presentations

• Green Sabotage: The Past and Future of the Radical Eco Movement - Thomas Zeitzoff, American University

• “Ecoterrorism”: Correcting Misperceptions in Activists’ Own Words - Joseph Brown, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Political Liability of Foreignness? Developer Identity and Opposition to Coal - Jennifer Hadden, Brown University

• Lynchings and State Intervention in Mexico - Hannah Baron, Tulane University

Chair

• Tricia Bacon American University

Discussants

• Thomas Zeitzoff American University

• Jennifer Hadden Brown University