Crackdowns and coalitions: The relationship between social movement structure and survival

Using mixed methods, I study the relationship between a social movement’s organizational structure and how it survives diverse repression, which is the state’s efforts to hinder or eliminate collective action. Following the introduction, the second chapter proposes an integrated framework and applies it to Ukraine’s 2013-2014 Maidan movement. Drawing on resource mobilization theory (RMT) and Chenoweth and Stephan’s research on tactical choice, I argue that decentralized leadership and networks are mobilizing structures that are vital for a movement’s survival in the face of repression. The third chapter examines the relationship between organizational structure, repression severity, and survival, and it addresses several major gaps in the literature. The findings show that maximalist movements with high levels of factional conflict are more likely to survive than unified movements and that the risk of being suppressed is constant over the lifespan of a movement. In the final study, I conduct qualitative case studies of two non-maximalist movements, which were targeted by the FBI’s covert counterintelligence program. The case study findings suggest that factionalism with cooperation is vital for survival. In all, the findings suggest that organizational structure is central to the repression-survival story, but the relationships are complex and context-specific.