Publication Date
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Laura Luehrmann (Committee Chair), Donna Schalgheck (Committee Member), Vaughn Shannon (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Theories of social movements suggest that 'objective' changes in the structure of political opportunities and their interaction with mobilizing and framing mechanisms render a system vulnerable to mass protest. By examining the variables relevant to such interaction, this study seeks to account for the emergence and form of the 2009 Green Movement in Iran. This research uses the congruence method and process traces the movement adherents' activities, mainly their use of Information Communication Technologies, and investigates the so-called opposition leaders' activities and statements. The study argues that in accounting for emergence and form of the Green Movement, we need to attribute the central role to the bottom-up framing processes that gave value and meaning to the movement's goals and strategies. Political opportunity structures only appear in terms of 'perceptual' rather than 'objective' changes in the structure of the system. Further, the research investigates implications for other authoritarian settings and, more generally, for theories of social movements.
Page Count
144
Department or Program
Department of Political Science
Year Degree Awarded
2012
Copyright
Copyright 2012, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
