Buying Time: The Synergy Between Direct Action and Legal Victories in a Pipeline Resistance Movement

• In Event: Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: The Intersection of Law and Movements

Abstract

In this article, we find that a sustained campaign of direct action can delay construction of dangerous projects, such as oil and gas pipelines, long enough to “buy time” for slower legal strategies to secure longer term victories. We apply the theoretical lens of “slow justice” to reorient how we evaluate the success or failure of movements, emphasizing interaction, dynamism and movement outcomes over longer timescales. We rely on 15 semi-structured interviews with pipeline fighters resisting the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Without a sustained direct action campaign, dangerous projects may be built before legal strategies can be crafted, filed and decisions rendered which might stay construction. Our findings thus present a compelling case for current and future movements to harness this synergy and utilize ambitious, sustained campaigns of direct action in tandem with innovative legal strategies.

Authors

• Cameron Reid Baller, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Deborah Kushner