Communities of resistance are increasingly turning to radical tactics, including acts of civil disobedience, to fight back against encroaching fossil fuel infrastructure. The fight against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is no exception. The MVP is a 303-mile long proposed fracked gas pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. I apply radical flank effect (RFE) theory and the theory of movement dynamism to understand the role of civil disobedience, as a radical flank, in the MVP resistance movement. I contribute to the literature on RFEs by focusing primarily on how the radical flank of this movement has affected within-movement social dynamics, like trust, unity, and interpersonal relations. I rely on 15 semi-structured interviews with pipeline fighters, both those who have and have not participated in acts of civil disobedience, to gain insight into the use of civil disobedience, as a radical flank in the movement. This movement has used diverse tactics to challenge construction of the MVP, making it a strong case for understanding the role of radical tactics, and their relationship to moderate tactics. I find several positive RFEs (energizing effects, connecting effects, engaging effects, uniting effects, and movement outcome effects) and some potential negative RFEs (conflict/alienation, fear of consequences and organizational risks). I also find evidence of movement dynamism in the form of an ecosystem of tactics which emerged in the MVP resistance movement. Movement actors kept moderate and radical flanks publicly separate for strategic reasons while overlapping membership bridged the social dynamics of the movement, encouraging cohesion and collective movement identity. / Master of Science / Communities concerned about climate change are increasingly breaking the law in order to make their voices heard and stop dangerous coal, oil and natural gas projects. These actions are called civil disobedience and they have been used for decades in the United States, most prominently in the Civil Rights Movement. One such example in the fight against climate change is the resistance to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile long proposed natural gas pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia. I use social movement theories to understand the role that civil disobedience has played in the Mountain Valley Pipeline resistance movement. Specifically, I look at how the use of civil disobedience in this movement has affected the social dynamics of the movement, like trust, unity, or relationships in the movement. I spoke with 15 community members who have been active in fighting this pipeline to learn more. This movement has involved a wide range of different tactics, including civil disobedience, so it is a strong example to study for this research. My interviews with the community members revealed several positive effects as a result of the use of civil disobedience in the movement as well as a few potential risks/dangers. I also found that civil disobedience was able to work together with other types of tactics in a vibrant ecosystem that included mutual benefit. At the same time, I find that community members sought to keep some of the illegal tactics separate from more moderate tactics, like lawsuits or public comment submissions, in order to keep the moderate tactics safe. Despite this separation, I find that significant overlap of community members across different types of tactics was able to maintain a cohesive, common identity and unify people who were participating in different tactics, but fighting the same pipeline.

This is an analysis of flank and shift effects in political sociology that focuses on anti-immigrant parties in eight European countries. In a positive radical flank effect the radical party makes the moderate and mildly-threatening parties look good. In turn, that moderate party then gains power or at least many of their ends. A negative radical flank effect occurs when the actual or perceived association of the moderate party with the radical party causes the moderate party to lose support. Radical shift effects are when the moderate or conservative party shifts its policy toward the radical direction. In this case, the radical party may become a coalition partner with the moderate or conservative party. And conservative or moderate shift is when the radical party shifts its policy toward a more moderate direction in order to assume power or court votes. The radical flank effects have some currency in the civil rights literature, but the other two effects have been largely ignored. This thesis shows that the radical shifts, radical flank, and moderate shift effects do have explanatory value in political sociology.

This thesis offers a comparative historical analysis of sub-state violent contention in Quebec and Corsica. It focuses specifically on the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) and the Fronte di Liberazione Naziunale Corsu (FLNC), in 1963 to 1971 and 1976 to 1990, respectively. The thesis argues that the FLQ and the FLNC sought to extend radical ideological space to promote independence in order to achieve revolutionary social and economic change through campaigns of violence and kidnappings. Theoretically, the thesis draws on the contentious politics and social movements literatures, which it notably combines with Radical Flank Effect (RFE). RFEs are interactive processes that aim to map the beneficial and/or detrimental impact of radical group action on moderate groups. Whilst commonly used to understand the political outcomes of social movements, RFE is used in this thesis in conjunction with social movement literature to compare the relationship between these violent movements and their more moderate opponents. To understand the internal dynamics of these movements, I have identified four key elements of contrast: membership, ideology, network structure and strategy. I draw on, for example, McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly's (2001) mobilization method, which aids an understanding of membership and ideology by framing the interaction amongst challengers, their opponents and the media. This thesis seeks to understand FLQ and FLNC mobilization in light of the aim to shape and develop radical ideological space in the sub-states of Quebec and Corsica. It draws on an extensive study of archival data that includes police reports that have only recently been made available in Canada, transcripts of court cases, newspapers, and an interview with a former member of the FLNC, as well as secondary sources. The central orienting question is: what explains the contrasting patterns of sub-state violent contention in Quebec and Corsica? More specifically, why did the FLQ dissolve in 1971, yet the FLNC continued its violent trajectory, albeit less political and nationalist, until 2014? The FLQ and the FLNC differently subscribed to Marxism and postcolonialism. The FLQ was committed to a Marxist program of revolutionary change, and this commitment was shared by the FLNC until the collapse of communism in central and Eastern Europe in 1989. FLQ members considered themselves 'urban revolutionaries' and employed Marxism to understand the economic disparity in industrial Montreal. Early Corsican violent contention, in contrast, included Maoist influences, in particular, through their demand for agrarian reform. The two groups viewed the relationship between their sub-states (Quebec and Corsica) and central states (Canada and France) through a colonial lens, and understood their mobilization against these states and elite minorities (the Anglophone elite in Quebec and the pieds noirs in Corsica) in this light. Both violent movements targeted this colonial relationship. Both the FLQ and FLNC manifestos were economically and politically focused, land and culture were additionally highlighted by the FLNC. This thesis found that sub-state violent contention in the very different contexts of Quebec and Corsica shared an overall pattern, an arc of violent mobilization. The initial mobilization developed from a frustration with moderate political groups; radicalization grew and new tactics were embraced; until turning points that included the assassination of Pierre Laporte by the FLQ and the division of the FLNC into competitive factions, and then a decline of activity, mobilization and recruitment. Although the FLQ and the FLNC contrasted greatly in terms of membership, ideology, organization and strategy, both groups attempted to extend radical space through the use of violent contention in these two very different nations. Ultimately, however, while the FLQ and the FLNC were able to extend or maintain radical space at times, yet they failed to sustain the extension of ideological radical space on the basis on their revolutionary manifestos.

Studiens syfte är att se hur sociala rörelser och stater interagerar, samt hur dialogen ser ut inom respektive part. Frågeställningarna som syftar till att fånga det är således; Hur ser relationen mellan sociala rörelser och stater ut, och hur påverkar var sidas val av strategier motpartens handlingsmönster? Samt; Vilka interna strategier inom kampanj respektive stat är mest framträdande? För att undersöka det har två kampanjer valts ut, Fees Must Fall i Sydafrika och Fund Our Future i Storbritannien. Vidare har nyhetsartiklar valts från sammanlagt nio av ländernas mest lästa nyhetstidningar. Fyra teoretiska ingångar fått vägleda analysarbetet; radical flank effect, symbolic damage, protest policing och eventful protest. Dessa är alla analytiska verktyg som hjälper oss förstå de mångfacetterade dimensionerna som existerar parallellt inom sociala rörelser och statens arbete. Den samlade tidigare forskningen har utforskat specifika delar av de nämnda begreppen, men däremot har aspekternas samverkande förmåga inte tidigare studerats. Studiens resultat visar att våldsamma aktioner ofta leds av radikala demonstranter. Dessa leder ofta inte enbart till stor medial uppmärksamhet, utan kan beroende på kontext förändra sociala rörelser och statens interna strategiska struktur. Det innebär även att fredliga aktioner ofta hamnar i skymundan, vilket bidrar till att befästa uppfattningen om att våld krävs för att sociala rörelsers syfte ska synas. Även stater kan uppleva sig nödgade att använda våldsamma strategier i mötet med demonstranter. Vidare visar resultaten på att det finns en interaktiv dynamik mellan kampanjer och stater, som även visar på aktörskap inom respektive part.

Pourquoi certains mouvements indépendantistes principalement non-violents sont-ils entraînés dans la violence par des factions radicales tandis que d’autres mouvements résistent à l’escalade des violences et continuent de s’engager sur une trajectoire non-violente ? Au Québec, la tentative la plus achevée du FLQ de faire escalader le conflit entre le mouvement indépendantiste et les forces étatiques s’est soldée par la dissolution des factions radicales et la disparition progressive de la violence au sein du répertoire d’action du mouvement. De même, l’escalade du conflit entre le FLQ et les forces étatiques lors de la crise d’Octobre n’a pas entraîné d’autres organisations indépendantistes vers la violence et c’est plutôt un processus de désescalade qui s’est mis en place, permettant ensuite au mouvement de réaliser plusieurs succès électoraux. En s’appuyant sur des entretiens semi-dirigés avec d’anciens militants indépendantistes et des recherches d’archives, ce mémoire retrace ainsi le processus par lequel les factions radicales ont échoué à radicaliser la trajectoire du mouvement indépendantiste québécois des années 1960 avant de disparaître au début de la décennie suivante. L’analyse soulève plus spécifiquement les mesures imposées par les principales organisations indépendantistes pour faire dé-escalader la violence et maintenir le mouvement sur sa trajectoire non-violente au travers de différents épisodes historiques. Ce mémoire révèle finalement comment un niveau de coopération de plus en plus important entre organisations indépendantistes concernant la posture à adopter vis-à-vis de la violence a permis d’isoler les franges radicales à l’intérieur du mouvement et d’empêcher ainsi les extrémistes d’affecter la réputation du mouvement ou d’entraver sa trajectoire démocratique et non-violente. / Why do radical factions draw some predominantly non-violent independence movements into violence, while other movements resist the escalation of violence and continue on their non-violent trajectory? In Quebec, the FLQ's most successful attempt to escalate the conflict between the independence movement and state forces during the October crisis resulted in the dissolution of radical factions and the gradual disappearance of violence from the movement's repertoire of action. Based on semi-structured interviews with former pro-independence activists and archival research, this thesis traces the process by which radical factions failed to radicalize the trajectory of the Quebec pro-independence movement in the 1960s before disappearing early in the following decade. Specifically, the analysis highlights the measures imposed by the main pro-independence organizations to defuse violence and keep the movement on its non-violent path through different historical episodes. This thesis ultimately reveals how an increasing level of cooperation among pro-independence organizations regarding the stance to take on violence has served to isolate radical factions within the movement and prevent extremists from affecting the movement's reputation or hindering its democratic and nonviolent trajectory.