Foul Weather Friends: Short-Term and Intentionally Limited Coalitions

• In Event: 036 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 03. Social Movements and Labor Solidarity

Abstract

While social movement organizations often work in alliance with other groups, relatively little has been written about coalitions that are intentionally limited and short-term in nature. In this study, I begin to address this gap in the literature through analysis of one case, the successful campaign to defeat Idaho’s Propositions 1, 2, and 3 in 2012. The campaign brought together the Idaho Education Association—the state’s K-12 education workers’ union—and Idaho Parents and Teachers Together, an organization made up of community members who opposed the new education reform laws. The short-term, limited nature of this alliance allowed for strategic separation between organizations, which provided some immunity from opponents’ arguments, lessened the costs of entering into a partnership, and promoted broad-based framing of shared claims and goals. I call for further research on such limited coalitions, since findings could have applications for both scholars and activists.

Author

• Amanda Pullum, Duke University