Having your day in court:judicial opportunity and tactical choice in Anti-GMO campaigns in France and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Investigating the recent direct action campaigns against genetically modified crops in France and the United Kingdom, the authors set out to understand how contrasting judicial systems and cultures affect the way that activists choose to commit ostensibly illegal actions and how they negotiate the trade-offs between effectiveness and public accountability. The authors find evidence that prosecution outcomes across different judicial systems are consistent and relatively predictable and consequently argue that the concept of a “judicial opportunity structure” is useful for developing scholars’ understanding of social movement trajectories. The authors also find that these differential judicial opportunities cannot adequately account for the tactical choices made by activists with respect to the staging of covert or overt direct action; rather, explanations of tactical choice are better accounted for by movement ideas, cultures, and traditions.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414012439184
Divisions: ?? 29721300Jl ??
College of Business and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences & Humanities
Publication ISSN: 1552-3829
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2024 17:23
Date Deposited: 24 Sep 2013 11:30
Full Text Link: http://cps.sage ... /content/47/1/3
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PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2014-01
Published Online Date: 2012-04-18
Authors: Doherty, Brian
Hayes, Graeme (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-1871-1188)

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