Recent directions in organizational studies have demonstrated progressive social movements' ability to generate rewarding enterprises or environmental opportunity structures (EOS) in receptive markets. However, more nuanced opposing movements (Meyer and Staggenborg 1996), such as the pro-choice and pro-life movements, receive far less attention, leaving scholars to postulate that there is much yet to know about the impact of movements other than those with strict progressive orientations (Zald, Morrill, and Rao 2005). To better understand how opposing movements contribute to environmental opportunity structures, this thesis examines dramatic growth in the number of adoption agencies advertising services in the Yellow Pages during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Some suggest the growth may be due to changing attitudes and laws regulating interracial adoption, the growing acceptance of international adoption as a family formation strategy, and the success of the adoptee rights movement. However, I argue that at least some of this growth is related to changes in abortion laws associated with the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and associated pro-choice and pro-life opposing movements that dominated public debate during the same period. Applying cultural entrepreneurship and competitive framing, I demonstrate that pro-choice language is adopted by adoption agencies that compete with abortion clinics as they offer services to birth mothers. Opposing movement features are evident in organization growth patterns, the services offered, and the slogans used. Dissecting the adoption services field into generalist and specialist organizational forms, I find that specialists experienced precipitous growth and were more likely to make use of certain "choice" frames, co-opted from the pro-choice movement and redirected to support pro-life ideologies. Further, I find that "open adoption" services, championed by the adoptee advocacy community for their identity-affirming and sustained relationship-allowing practices, are most often marketed by the adoption provider as a choice-granting process, giving adoption providers further opportunity to mirror the pro-choice movement's choice-centric practices. Because adoption agencies' growth, slogans, and services are largely bound up in tactics specific to the pro-choice and pro-life opposing movement dynamics, I conclude that opposing movements can indeed contribute to environmental opportunity structures for market growth.

Since the ruling of Roe v. Wade in 1973, controversy in regards to its acceptance in the U.S. remains prevalent politically and socially as opponents of abortion “pro-life” has adopted a strategy of “legal but inaccessible” that has resulted in the passage of several state laws since its establishment. This research project examines relationship between the level of support for abortion policy in the U.S. and some factors namely; Gender, Religious background, and Political ideology by drawing from an online-survey of 100 university students in the U.S. Also, it examines the difference in abortion rates among U.S. states that are governed by republican or democratic governors using abortion rate data of all 50 U.S. states including the District of Columbia for the year 2015 sourced from Abortion statistics and other data. Two statistical techniques were employed and they include: Chi-Square test and Independent sample T-test. Results from the chi-square tests support the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between the support for abortion policy and gender, religious background, and political ideology. Also, from the T-test result, we found that there is no significant difference in abortion rates among U.S. states that are governed by republican or democratic governors. Findings based on the trend analysis of annual U.S. abortion from 1973-2015 shows that the reported annual abortion in the U.S. is on a continuous decrease since the 1990s even though abortion has been legalized in all U.S. states.

The research puzzle of this thesis is the global impact of the pro-life discourse of the Catholic Church on the public space in Latin America, using Nicaragua as an illustrative case. The aim is to understand in a global political perspective the transnational impact of the pro-life discursive strategy of the Catholic Church on the public space in Latin America during the period 1995-2020, and how international pro-life organizations have operated tactically to reach their goals. The thesis mainly uses the theory of transnational advocacy networks by Keck and Sikkink (1999) to study the transnational political impact of the pro-life discourse. The research method is based on critical discourse analysis, which has been used to analyse different data sources from international pro-life organizations. The conclusion is that the international pro- life organizations, operating as transnational advocacy networks in Latin America, have developed different political tactics, having a large impact on the public space. The case of Nicaragua is a clear example of how international pro-life organizations, operating as transnational advocacy networks, in collaboration with domestic pro-life groups, managed to put abortion on the political agenda since the 1990s, leading to the prohibition of abortion by the Sandinista government in 2007.

This thesis investigates conservative social movements’ discursive strategies and the ways in which discourse is used depending on a constructed threat. This is done through a discourse analysis on online published material by pro-life groups in Latin America, using the case of abortion. The research question is “How does the construction of threats influence discursive adaptation among pro-life actors in Latin America?” It is divided into sub-questions, asking (a) how pro-life actors perceive and construct threats, and (b) how do pro-life activists in Latin America use religious argumentation, pro-women discourse, and law and legal-based arguments respectively, to oppose a decriminalization of abortion? The study finds that arguments centered on rights and the national constitutions dominate. The most common threats are the real or hypothetical legalization of abortion, its increased access or increased normalization, as well as the threat of the international community and gender ideology, and what I refer to above as the hypothetical threat, in which the case of abortion serves as a gateway. The central findings are that the unit or phenomenon perceived as threatened is often the same as what constitutes a node of familiarity, i.e., appeals to individuals based on an experience shared by a community, and that the discourse used in response often reflects that of the constructed threat itself. The thesis illustrates the many ways that the pro-life movements use a combination of discourse based on religious values, gender, and rights to construct arguments, and thereby, the adaptability and creativity displayed by the organization.

o movimento de lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais (LGBT) e o movimento cristão pró-vida e pró-família se engajaram em um confronto político em torno das demandas do primeiro desses movimentos ao Governo Federal. Ao longo desse período – em especial, a partir do primeiro Governo Dilma Rousseff (2011-2014) – os resultados políticos desse confronto variaram, passando a favorecer em maior medida o movimento cristão conservador. Essa variação vai de encontro às expectativas de estudos sobre os impactos de oportunidades políticas sobre os resultados políticos de confrontos, na medida em que, ao longo do período analisado, em primeiro lugar, um mesmo partido se manteve a frente da chefia do Executivo e, em segundo lugar, ativistas LGBT se mantiveram ativos em ministérios e secretarias do Governo Federal. Essa tese tem como principal objetivo explicar as variações nos resultados políticos desse confronto. Para atingir esse objetivo, realizei entrevistas com ativistas desses movimentos, com burocratas ativistas LGBT que atuaram em órgãos do Governo Federal e com assessores ligados à Frente Parlamentar Evangélica (FPE) e à Frente Parlamentar de Defesa da Cidadania LGBT (FPLGBT). Também utilizei dados do Portal da Transparência e de outras fontes oficiais para mapear iniciativas e recursos do Governo Federal transferidos por meio de ações voltadas às demandas do movimento LGBT. Por fim, mobilizei dados do portal da Câmara dos Deputados e do Senado para identificar variações na presença de parlamentares da FPE em coalizões de governo, na sua ocupação de espaços estratégicos no Congresso Nacional e em seu uso de requerimentos de informação e de projetos de decreto legislativo. A partir da análise desses dados, identifiquei os mecanismos de oportunidade e ameaça que conformam o processo político de gerenciamento de coalizões governamentais e que impactaram os resultados políticos desse confronto. Os resultados dessa investigação sugerem que as dinâmicas e os resultados do confronto político entre a FPLGBT e a FPE no Congresso Nacional passaram a favorecer essa última frente a partir do primeiro Governo Dilma. Com suas vitórias nesse confronto, a FPE se consolidou como um jogador importante no processo de gerenciamento de coalizões de governo, algo inesperado para literatura sobre esse tema, que indica que os partidos políticos são os atores capazes de negociar acordos com a chefia do Executivo. Assim, a FPE passou pressionar a chefia do Executivo em direção aos seus interesses e preferências que, por sua vez, passou a intervir sobre sua burocracia de forma a obstaculizar a ação de ativistas LGBT que se engajavam em confrontos políticos na Esplanada dos Ministérios. Dessa forma, apesar de sua penetração em instituições políticas, burocratas ativistas LGBT não puderam manter o nível de produção de resultados políticos positivos para o movimento LGBT. A partir desses resultados, sugiro como principal contribuição dessa tese que, para explicar variações nos resultados políticos de confrontos políticos no Brasil, é necessário compreender como processos de gerenciamento de coalizões governamentais afetam oportunidades e ameaças que facilitam ou obstaculizam a ação de movimentos sociais. / During the first three Partido dos Trabalhadores’ federal administrations, the Brazilian lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders movement (LGBT) and pro-life and pro-family christian movement engaged in an episode of contention around the demands of the first of these movements to the Federal Government. During this period – and particularly since the first Rousseff administration (2011-2014) – the political outcomes of this episode of contention varied in favor of the christian conservative movement. This variation challenges the studies on the impacts of opportunities over the political outcomes of political contention, first, because the same party was chief Executive of the country during this period and, second, because LGBT activists maintained their actions inside federal state secretaries. This dissertation aims at explaining the variations of this political contention’s political outcomes. To achieve this goal, I interviewed those movements' activists, LGBT bureaucrat activists that worked in federal state secretaries, and parliamentary assistants related to the Frente Parlamentar Evangélica (FPE) and to the Frente Parlamentar de Defesa da Cidadania LGBT (FPLGBT). I also mobilized data from official sources to map state initiatives and investments on actions related to LGBT demands. Finally, I used data from the Câmara dos Deputados’ and the Senado’s web pages to identify variations in the number of FPE parliamentarians in government coalitions, in the occupation of strategic spaces in the National Congress by these parliamentarians, and in their use of two legislative instruments, the requerimentos de informação and the projetos de decreto legislativo. Analyzing this data, I identified the mechanisms of opportunity and threat which conform the political process of government coalition management and affected the political outcomes of this episode of contention. The data suggests that the dynamics and outcomes of the political contention between the FPLGBT and the FPE in the National Congress began to favor the last of these parliamentary fronts since the first Rousseff administration. With those victories, the FPE consolidated itself as an important player in the government coalition management political process, something unexpected for the literature on this subject, that suggests that political parties are the actors capable of negotiating agreements with the chief of the Executive. The FPE started to press the chief Executive toward its interests and preferences who, on its turn, stated to intervene over its own bureaucracy, creating obstacles for the actions of LGBT activists that were engaged in contentious politics in state secretaries. Therefore, despite of its penetration in political institutions, LGBT bureaucrat activists could not afford to maintain their level of production of political outcomes for the LGBT movement. From this data, as the main contribution of this dissertation, I suggest that, in order to explain the variation of political outcomes of contentious politics in Brazil, it is necessary to understand how government coalition management processes affect the opportunities and threats which facilitate or hinder the action of social movements.

o movimento de lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis e transexuais (LGBT) e o movimento cristão pró-vida e pró-família se engajaram em um confronto político em torno das demandas do primeiro desses movimentos ao Governo Federal. Ao longo desse período – em especial, a partir do primeiro Governo Dilma Rousseff (2011-2014) – os resultados políticos desse confronto variaram, passando a favorecer em maior medida o movimento cristão conservador. Essa variação vai de encontro às expectativas de estudos sobre os impactos de oportunidades políticas sobre os resultados políticos de confrontos, na medida em que, ao longo do período analisado, em primeiro lugar, um mesmo partido se manteve a frente da chefia do Executivo e, em segundo lugar, ativistas LGBT se mantiveram ativos em ministérios e secretarias do Governo Federal. Essa tese tem como principal objetivo explicar as variações nos resultados políticos desse confronto. Para atingir esse objetivo, realizei entrevistas com ativistas desses movimentos, com burocratas ativistas LGBT que atuaram em órgãos do Governo Federal e com assessores ligados à Frente Parlamentar Evangélica (FPE) e à Frente Parlamentar de Defesa da Cidadania LGBT (FPLGBT). Também utilizei dados do Portal da Transparência e de outras fontes oficiais para mapear iniciativas e recursos do Governo Federal transferidos por meio de ações voltadas às demandas do movimento LGBT. Por fim, mobilizei dados do portal da Câmara dos Deputados e do Senado para identificar variações na presença de parlamentares da FPE em coalizões de governo, na sua ocupação de espaços estratégicos no Congresso Nacional e em seu uso de requerimentos de informação e de projetos de decreto legislativo. A partir da análise desses dados, identifiquei os mecanismos de oportunidade e ameaça que conformam o processo político de gerenciamento de coalizões governamentais e que impactaram os resultados políticos desse confronto. Os resultados dessa investigação sugerem que as dinâmicas e os resultados do confronto político entre a FPLGBT e a FPE no Congresso Nacional passaram a favorecer essa última frente a partir do primeiro Governo Dilma. Com suas vitórias nesse confronto, a FPE se consolidou como um jogador importante no processo de gerenciamento de coalizões de governo, algo inesperado para literatura sobre esse tema, que indica que os partidos políticos são os atores capazes de negociar acordos com a chefia do Executivo. Assim, a FPE passou pressionar a chefia do Executivo em direção aos seus interesses e preferências que, por sua vez, passou a intervir sobre sua burocracia de forma a obstaculizar a ação de ativistas LGBT que se engajavam em confrontos políticos na Esplanada dos Ministérios. Dessa forma, apesar de sua penetração em instituições políticas, burocratas ativistas LGBT não puderam manter o nível de produção de resultados políticos positivos para o movimento LGBT. A partir desses resultados, sugiro como principal contribuição dessa tese que, para explicar variações nos resultados políticos de confrontos políticos no Brasil, é necessário compreender como processos de gerenciamento de coalizões governamentais afetam oportunidades e ameaças que facilitam ou obstaculizam a ação de movimentos sociais. / During the first three Partido dos Trabalhadores’ federal administrations, the Brazilian lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders movement (LGBT) and pro-life and pro-family christian movement engaged in an episode of contention around the demands of the first of these movements to the Federal Government. During this period – and particularly since the first Rousseff administration (2011-2014) – the political outcomes of this episode of contention varied in favor of the christian conservative movement. This variation challenges the studies on the impacts of opportunities over the political outcomes of political contention, first, because the same party was chief Executive of the country during this period and, second, because LGBT activists maintained their actions inside federal state secretaries. This dissertation aims at explaining the variations of this political contention’s political outcomes. To achieve this goal, I interviewed those movements' activists, LGBT bureaucrat activists that worked in federal state secretaries, and parliamentary assistants related to the Frente Parlamentar Evangélica (FPE) and to the Frente Parlamentar de Defesa da Cidadania LGBT (FPLGBT). I also mobilized data from official sources to map state initiatives and investments on actions related to LGBT demands. Finally, I used data from the Câmara dos Deputados’ and the Senado’s web pages to identify variations in the number of FPE parliamentarians in government coalitions, in the occupation of strategic spaces in the National Congress by these parliamentarians, and in their use of two legislative instruments, the requerimentos de informação and the projetos de decreto legislativo. Analyzing this data, I identified the mechanisms of opportunity and threat which conform the political process of government coalition management and affected the political outcomes of this episode of contention. The data suggests that the dynamics and outcomes of the political contention between the FPLGBT and the FPE in the National Congress began to favor the last of these parliamentary fronts since the first Rousseff administration. With those victories, the FPE consolidated itself as an important player in the government coalition management political process, something unexpected for the literature on this subject, that suggests that political parties are the actors capable of negotiating agreements with the chief of the Executive. The FPE started to press the chief Executive toward its interests and preferences who, on its turn, stated to intervene over its own bureaucracy, creating obstacles for the actions of LGBT activists that were engaged in contentious politics in state secretaries. Therefore, despite of its penetration in political institutions, LGBT bureaucrat activists could not afford to maintain their level of production of political outcomes for the LGBT movement. From this data, as the main contribution of this dissertation, I suggest that, in order to explain the variation of political outcomes of contentious politics in Brazil, it is necessary to understand how government coalition management processes affect the opportunities and threats which facilitate or hinder the action of social movements.

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This thesis is analysing the abortion debate in Bolivia and questions a supposed contradiction of being simultaneouslyfeminist and Catholicregarding opinions on abortion. By analysing texts from three important actors in the abortion debate in Bolivia, the studyshows on what arguments and discourses that are used within the debate, as well asconsideringthe interesting role of Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD -Catholics for the Right to Decide),that isa feminist organisation fighting for a complete decriminalisation of abortion in Bolivia, but are also Catholics. The two other actors analysed are Colectivo Rebeldía as a representative of the feminist movement, and the Catholic Church asthe greatest abortion opponent. The thesis has a feminist perspective and use a critical discourse analysis in orderto provide different perspectives on the abortion debate in Bolivia. The results indicate that the rights discourse is frequently used by all three actors, although promoting different rights.Whereas the Church promotes the foetus’ right to life, the twofeminist organisations speak of rights in terms of a woman’s right to decide.The Church is using a conservative traditional language and aims to maintain status quo, whereas the feminist organisations use a variety of discourses with the objective of social transformation. Moreover, the fact that the organisation CDD is both feminist and Catholic, might not seem that contradictive when explainedwith the help of feminist theology.

The principal theory in the field of public relations, grounded in the landmark Excellence Study headed by J.E. Grunig (1992), has moved from viewing activist groups as posing a threat to organizational effectiveness, to recognizing their positive influence on the development of Excellent public relations practices, to incorporating the activist perspective into the main research agenda. The public relations practices of activist groups are similar to those of their target organizations, and research has demonstrated that both parties are more likely to achieve their respective goals if both use symmetrical strategies. Factors that have been found to be critical to the success of activist groups include their ability to maintain the viability and legitimacy of the organization and the issue(s) it pursues, and their ability to build relationships of trust with its members, complementary organizations, legislative bodies, and the press. Since web-based communication has become a principal source of counterbalancing their disadvantage in resources vis-à-vis the targeted institution(s), the ability to take advantage of the potential of online media has also become critical to the success of activist groups. Another important source for counterweighing the “deep pockets” of their corporate or governmental adversaries, and thus a critical factor for success, is the “motivation and fervor” of the members of activist groups. Whereas the public relations behavior of corporations and governments is primarily cued by highly rational and regulated guidelines at the organizational (meso) level, activist public relations behavior is often grounded in highly emotional considerations at the personal (micro) level. This raises the question: how can the public relations practices of an activist group affect its members at the personal level? Bandura’s model of self-directed change (1990) offers a promising framework for addressing this question, as it facilitates the evaluation of an activist group’s public relations campaign in terms of its effectiveness in reinforcing the motivation, social and self-regulatory skills, and self-efficacy of individual members. The model suggests that effective activist public relations practices are not only successful in preserving viability and legitimacy at the meso level, but also enhance empowerment at the micro level. / text

Through the fetal heartbeat House-Bill-481, Georgia (U.S) has taken a Pro-life stance on the constitutionally enshrined women's reproductive self-determination rights versus the proposed fetus's right to life by banning abortion after six weeks of gestation. The purpose of this research was to analyze how rights are debated in the media, argued in the bill, and presented in the litigation against the bill using a thematic analysis approach guided by the concept of rights. The findings showed that Pro-choice sees the bill as an infringement of women's rights while Pro-life see it as recognizing the proposed fetus's right to life and personhood.