Social movements almost always have some allies and often they also have some fierce opponents. Some are real and acting supportively or hindering the movement’s mobilization and impact, while others are just perceived by the activists themselves or from the general public. Allies and opponents of social movements can change across time and space within the same mobilization. In moving away from movement-centric approaches, the social movements’ literature has progressively shifted its interest to the interaction that social movements have with other actors, but this has not yet provided an analysis of the interactions between social movements and their allies and opponents.

This midterm conference of the ESA RN25 focuses on five following topics:

* How movements are mobilizing the allies or how do they get allies they never asked for? Who are the “best” allies, at what time-point and for what?

* Which kinds of allies and opponents the movements tend to have? Inside the movement? Or outside the movement, at local, national and transnational level?

*Do the allies really matter? – How allies affect (in terms of opportunities or constraints) the movements and activists, movements’ mobilization strategies and eventual achievements of the movement?

*Strategies for fighting the opponents and its development over time. How does the social movement – opponent interaction looks like and what are its consequences for the mobilization and the movement in general.

* How social movements change their allies and opponents across time and space.

The conference will feature keynote speeches from internationally-renowned scholars,

Professor Mario Diani, Università degli Studi di Trento

Professor Florence Passy, University of Lausanne