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Political process and popular protest: the mobilization against free trade in Canada
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Oct, 1996 by Jeffrey M. Ayres
I
Introduction
Recent events in Europe and North America have demonstrated the gap that has emerged between elites and masses over the wisdom and enthusiasm for increased economic and political integration. Concerns have been expressed that such closer economic ties may threaten a country's sovereignty, its national identity and welfare state orientation. Important anti-integration political movements have arisen across many advanced industrial societies, most notably against the North American Free Trade Agreements (FTA and NAFTA) and the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. The elite-mass divergence around such issues, and the opposition movements that have resulted, present examples of intriguing dilemmas facing politicians and social scientists alike. Anti-integration movements raise questions about the authority of the state, signal a weakening of traditional forms of elite-mass linkage such as political parties, and underscore the inability of leaders to garner support for their own agendas.
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This article highlights the protest campaign of the popular mobilization against the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Canada. It generalizes the political process model (PPM) of social movements to this case, suggesting that this case fits tenets of the PPM - that political institutions, political opportunities, and social and political organizations shaped the emergence and mobilization of the protest campaign. It also serves as an empirical account of a popular mobilization, one which was an illuminating precursor to the broader continental mobilizations, one against NAFTA and another the Maastricht Treaty on European Union. This movement emerged from a country which has otherwise contributed little research to the current cross-national debate on social movements. This article thus invites comparisons with the broader and puzzling phenomenon of anti-integration sentiment sweeping across many advanced industrial societies.
II
The Political Process Model of Social Movements
There is a strong relationship between the mobilization dynamics of a social movement and political conditions which can constrain or facilitate collective action. While a social movement is conceptually and organizationally distinct from other forms of political activity, the extent of its interaction with the political process should not be underestimated. On the one hand, movements can be differentiated from conventional political actors by their organizational base and by their style and choice of protest activities. To mount and sustain an organized campaign of protest, movements depend upon internal resources to supply it with a membership potential, leadership, and a communications network. On the other hand, a variety of supportive political conditions can ensure a movement's survival, bolster its campaign, and satisfy its aims.
Scholars in the political process mold study the political environment and the collective action it generates. As Tilly has argued in his "polity model" formulation of this approach, it is the fight for power between polity members and challengers, and the various political realities and political alignments facing those challengers, that gives rise to collective action.(1) Social movements arise, significantly expand, and have their greatest impact during periods marked by a profound increase in the vulnerability of the political establishment to pressure from protest groups.(2) Under unstable political conditions, those groups previously excluded from routine decision-making arenas under otherwise normal political conditions, find the opportunities for collective action and protest greatly enhanced.
The PPM can be outlined by reference to a cluster of two essential factors namely, the existence of a mass organizational resource base and a structure of political opportunities. On the first point, the PPM focuses on the role played by the strategies, protest tactics, and resources of non-elite groups for the sustained expansion of social movements. Specifically, a movement must have a high degree of "organizational readiness" and strength to convert existing favorable political opportunities into a strategic, sustained campaign.(3) Furthermore, the concept of a political opportunity structure can be viewed as a tool for distinguishing between political conditions that may be favorable or unfavorable for social movements and their activities. In particular, as Neidhardt and Rucht argue, such political factors play a particularly "crucial role for the successful mobilization of movements which deliberately enter the arena of public and political debates."(4) Tarrow has operationalized this concept to include resources readily accessible and exploitable by a movement, including variables that have enjoyed a great degree of generalization across cases: divisions and conflicts between political elites; the stability or instability of political alignments; and the existence of allies and support groups.(5)
This article thus documents how the Canadian anti-free trade movement's forces adapted to the changed nature of the free trade debate, how they strategically exploited favorable political opportunity structures by bringing their organizational strengths to bear on a vulnerable political environment. A condition of vulnerability characterized the Canadian political establishment during the 1980s which significantly enhanced the leverage and bargaining position of the anti-free trade forces vis-a-vis the opposition Liberal and New Democratic Parties. In addition, this unstable political environment further sustained critical political opportunity structures which facilitated the movement's strategic intervention into the Parliamentary debate on free trade. This critical mix of political opportunities and popular organizational resources worked towards the successful realization of the anti-free trade movement's major Parliamentary campaign goals. Three goals, to educate and mobilize the Canadian public about the perceived dangers of free trade with the United States, to delay the free trade bill in Parliament for as long as possible, and to encourage that an election be called on the issue were all aided by the above political variables.
