Ad hoc social movement coalitions are made up of diverse groups that come
together to maximise the use of limited resources. Once formed, they face a dilemma.
Coalition logic holds that given the limited time frame and instrumental objectives of
the organisation, resources should be disproportionately invested in the visible sphere of
action. However, this instrumental emphasis ignores the need to invest resources in the
'submerged' sphere of membership intercommunication. As a result tensions which
have their root in divergent ideologies, traditions and histories of resistance can threaten
the coalition's collective identity.
This thesis is about one such organisation, the No! To APEC (NTA) coalition,
one of three groups that made up the movement to oppose the APEC Economic
Leader's Meeting in Vancouver held in November 1997. NTA, made up of small leftwing
grassroots groups, built a campaign around resistance to "imperialist
globalisation." It organised community education, an international conference and a
march and rally. Although it succeeded in meeting its objectives, a fracture occurred
between the largest and most consolidated member group and the other unconsolidated
grouping made up of individuals and representatives of small organisations. The
fracture caused a disconnection between the local and the international priorities set by
the organisation at its outset. In this study I examine the process that led to this
outcome. In particular I identify the importance of establishing a capacity for
reflexively monitoring the actions and interactions of members. While consensus is not
a pre-requisite for solidarity, disputes arising from different perspectives and
membership tactics may jeopardise organisational unity. Providing a limited space for
evaluating conflicting validity claims and organisational dynamics may help to preserve
unity during the active phase of a coalition's mobilisation. The methods used to obtain
data for this study were participant observation and interviewing. I spent six months as
an activist-researcher with the coalition and I interviewed activists from the three main
APEC opposition groups.
Although the main focus of this study is on the political and organisational
evolution of the NTA coalition, I broaden the discussion to argue that ad hoc coalitions
play an important role in generating 'social capital' or 'social movement connectivity.'
Social solidarity generated in the course of short-term political action increases the
potential for further action mobilisation in social movement networks and communities.
In the final part of the thesis I review literature on globalisation and social movements.
Combined with what has been learned about coalitions in the previous chapters, this
exercise provides a context for examining the APEC opposition movement and, by
extension, the prospects for building transnational movements and a counter-hegemonic
historical bloc against imperialist globalisation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10283 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Larcombe, Andrew |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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