Phenomena of collective action – of collective political conflict1 – are neither uniform nor stable. They comprise institutional and non-institution- al actors as well as routine, confrontational, or even violent forms of action. They take place in different arenas, change over time and involve individu- als in different ways, roles, and trajectories. This variance and heterogene- ity corresponds to a diversified research landscape, with separate fields of research specializing on different phenomena of collective action, such as social movement organizations, political parties, NGOs, interest groups, and armed groups. As these fields of research have generally preferred to affirm the boundaries between them and to highlight the special relevance and par- ticular nature of the conflicts, actors, and forms of action that they study, the connections and continuities between these phenomena have been under- researched. This neglect is striking, for one thing, because many episodes of political conflict cannot easily be placed in one single category. They are shaped by interactions between very different types of actors, involve a range of different forms of collective action, and can shift between arenas and lev- els of conflict, such as labour struggles transforming into electoral conflicts, accompanied by disruptive protests and violent confrontations. Moreover, neither actors nor repertoires are stable and timeless entities, but are part of dynamic processes, adapt, and change over time. Social movements, for example, may institutionalise into political parties, bringing their goals to the electoral arena; while political parties may seek to draw on extra-institu- tional forms of mobilizations to increase their power. We encounter activists who, at the same time, prepare food for those in need, are on the forefront of public demonstrations for migrants’ rights, and are elected representative within the institutions; and we see collective actors that present themselves in different ways in different arenas, depending on whom they interact with. The politics of collective action, in other words, are in a constant state of flux, with different types of action, actors, and conflicts co-existing, interacting, shifting, and transforming over the course of episodes of political conflict.
In this article, we seek to build upon and further develop processual perspectives that highlight conti- nuities and transformations of collective action across time and within specific contexts, and throughout indi- viduals’ and collective actors’ trajectories. In particular, we aim to improve and expand theoretical and con- ceptual tools for capturing continuity and transforma- tion, emphasizing the need for processual-comparative research to explore related phenomena in different social, political, and cultural settings and across time. We discuss methodological innovations that can help to analyse and explain continuities and transformations in processes of collective action, thus setting the stage for the papers that comprise this special issue and pointing out concerns and arguments that connect them.
https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/smp/article/view/1549405/12/2024
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