From Social Movement Organization to Political Party: Comparing the African National Congress and Solidarity

• In Event: 277 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 18. Political Contexts of Movements

Abstract

It’s common for social movement organizations (SMOs) to aim to transform their nation’s political system and become leading political powers, but it’s rare for them to succeed. The African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa and Solidarity Movement in Poland are two examples of social movements that aided in the demise of the dominant, non-democratic regimes in their countries, and became the first political parties to rule in their new democracies. Over the past two decades, these organizations made the changes necessary to stay relevant in the evolving environment by altering their organizational types without changing all of the characteristics that make up their organizational form. As the ANC transitioned from a SMO to a political party, the organization continued to operate in ways informed by their past that provided continuity and preserved tradition, but are illogical given their new organizational type and national context. When Solidarity transitioned from a SMO to a political party, the organization eschewed much of its previous ways of operating, and it was not until Solidarity returned to its original focus of helping workers that it regained some of its former legitimacy. These examples demonstrate that in turbulent times, organizations may preserve or reinstate ways of operating that served them previously in order to maintain their organizational legitimacy. At the same time, by continuing practices from their SMO pasts, both the ANC and Solidarity have incurred constraints that limited their ability to enact their originally policy goals and even disempowered civil society within their countries.

Author

• Kate Elizabeth Gunby, University of Arizona