The Power of ad hoc Mobilisation: Postponing School Closures in Sweden

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 02. Community Organizing and Mobilization

Abstract

This paper examines how small ad-hoc protest groups, namely the activists against school closures in Swedish municipalities, achieve their goals. Their protests range from sending emotional letters to authorities to more disruptive such as large demonstrations and illegal school strikes i.e. parents refusing to send their children to school. There is no dominant public opinion in favour or against school closures; neither are there any clear political allies. The multi-level discrete event history analysis of all proposed school closure cases in 290 Swedish municipalities during the period of 1991-2010 demonstrates that less disruptive protests tend to postpone and eventually avoid the closure. In contrast, frequent protests and more disruptive strategies accelerate the process of closure. In general, these results may reflect the characteristic conflict-avoidance-type political culture in Sweden. More specifically however, the phenomena I call the discomfort mechanism plays an important role in these outcomes – it is the burden of dealing with the flood of emotional and angry letters which municipality bureaucrats have to file, or handling outbursts during public meetings. This new mechanism combined with politicians’ interest in re-election and stability allows us better explain the consequences outcomes of social movement mobilization.

Author

• Katrin Uba, Uppsala University