Abstract
This article highlights that both structure and agency were important in the successful creation of the social movement organization, Attac France. The combination of three favorable structural factors – the existence of aggrieved individuals, the presence of movement entrepreneurs with resources and the existence of a large opportunity for mobilization – constituted a necessary condition for the emergence of Attac. However, these structural factors did not create Attac. Rather, fruitful interactions between the movement entrepreneurs (mainly the editorial team of Le Monde Diplomatique) and the potential recruits (mostly the readership of Le Monde Diplomatique) allowed for the swift creation of the organization. Thus, what created Attac was a successful communication between ‘masses’ and ‘elites’, their agreement on goals, and on organizational setup.
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Notes
The movement against neo-liberal capitalism is variously described as the anti-globalization movement, the alter-globalization movement and the anti-capitalist movement or social justice movement (Cox and Nilsen, 2007). I will refer to the movement as the alter-globalization movement, as the movement is not against globalization per se, but rather, against neo-liberalism and the current way globalization is practiced.
Social movement organizations (SMOs) are formally organized mobilizing agents that are often part of a broader social movement. They seek to influence politics through both lobbying and radical protest actions (for further discussion of SMOs see Mayer and McCarthy, 1997).
Le Monde Diplomatique is a monthly publication offering analysis and opinions on politics, culture and current affairs. It is left-leaning and decidedly critical of neo-liberal globalization. Although the monthly newspaper was initially created for a diplomatic audience, its focus has broadened over the years, capturing an audience of 350 000 in France and another 1 million readers worldwide.
Dalton (1996, p. 77) provides an explanation of the origins of this approach: Analysts since Aristotle have seen personal dissatisfaction and a drive for better conditions as the root cause of political violence. For Aristotle, the principal causes of revolution were the aspirations for economic or political equality on the part of the common people who lack it, or the aspirations of oligarchs for greater inequality than there was. Much later, Tocqueville linked the violence of the 1789 French Revolution to unfulfilled aspirations expanding more rapidly than objective conditions, thereby increasing dissatisfaction and the pressure for change. Karl Marx similarly posits that personal dissatisfaction and the competition between the haves and the have-nots would be the driving force of history and the ultimate source of political revolt.
This objective standpoint assumes an outside observer that determines whether individuals can objectively attain their goals.
Such a subjective definition is given by Tarrow (1994, p. 85), who defines POSs as … ‘dimensions of the political environment that provide incentives for people to undertake collective action by affecting their expectations for success or failure’.
Klanderman's supply and demand metaphor has been used repeatedly as an explanatory framework to evaluate the success of SMOs (for example, Klandermans, 1997), but has never been explicitly applied to explain the onset of such associations.
However, the number of aggrieved people in a society who feel represented by a given group constitutes the maximum number of recruits an organization can possibly attract.
I conducted all the interviews in the winter 2008/2009 and summer 2009. The 19 activists who form the basis for this study consist of 60 per cent men and 40 per cent women and have an age range from 37 years to 81 years. They are further characterized by high structural availability (for example, more than half of the interviewees are singles and retirees), high educational attainment (nearly two thirds of the respondents have a college degree) and a relatively high degree of engagement in Attac and other organizations (half of the interviewees spend 15 or more hours per month in protest structures).
Le Monde is a center-left-leaning daily newspaper in France. It is nationally distributed, can be bought in various countries around the globe and has a circulation of over 500 000 copies.
When quoting from my interviews I used pseudonyms to protect the anonymity of all respondents.
Interview conducted at the interviewee's workplace in Paris on 10 January 2009.
Interview conducted in a café in Toulouse on 29 May 2009.
A French sociologist, anthropologists and philosopher, Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was an intellectual reference for movements opposed to neo-liberalism and globalization that developed in France and elsewhere during the 1990s.
Alain Touraine is a prominent French social movement scholar. As such, he has intellectually accompanied the development of the alter-globalization movements and, on various occasions, has voiced his support for the movement's agenda.
A former university professor and prominent activist of the 1968 generation, Bernard Cassen was the general director of Le Monde Diplomatique. As such, he was responsible for coordinating the creation of Attac. He became the first president of Attac France and served as one of the main organizers of the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2001.
This sense of disillusionment and dissatisfaction with mainstream parties is not restricted to these Attac veterans, but also characterizes activists that joined Attac after its initial phase.
Francois Mitterand (1916–1996) was French president from 1981 to 1995 and, with the exception of the 1969 elections, the candidate for the Left in all presidential elections from 1965 to 1988.
Interview conducted on 21 August 2009 during Attac's summer academy in Arles.
Interview conducted in a public bar in Paris on 8 January 2009.
Nine of my interviewees were faithful readers of Le Monde Diplomatique throughout the 1990s.
Often these support circles became officially affiliated with ‘Les Amis Du Monde Diplomatique’, the readers’ association of the journal, which was also founded in 1995. Since its creation, the organization, which consists of more than 4000 members, has been the newspaper's agenda setter and has played an important role in diffusing the ideas of the newspaper. (Then it is diffusing its own ideas).
Interview conducted in the interviewee's home in Reims on 31 July 2009.
Interview conducted in a café in Paris on 16 June 2009.
Ignacio Ramonet is the former editor of the weekly newspaper, Le Monde Diplomatique and co-founder of Attac France.
The process through which people empower themselves is often called ‘cognitive liberation’. Cognitive liberation occurs when individuals begin to recognize that outcomes can be different and that by acting together, society can be changed. Once they are cognitively liberated, they are more likely to launch themselves into the creation of an SMO (McAdam, 1982; Nepstad, 1997).
Interview conducted at the interviewee's home in Paris on 7 January 2009.
Interview conducted at the interviewee's friend's house in Reims on 31 July 2009.
Pierre Tartakowski and Annick Coupé were influential figures of the French unions, UGICT-CGT and G 10 Solidaire, respectively.
A professor of La Sorbonne and a specialist in questions of development, René Passet actively participated in the development of the Attac project. He became the first president of Attac's Scientific Council.
A former university professor and activist of 1968 generation, Bernard Cassen, was the general director of Le Monde Diplomatique when Ramonet wrote his famous editorial. The editorial team of Le Monde Diplomatique put him in charge of coordinating the creation of Attac. He became the first president of Attac France and served as one of the main organizers of the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre 2001.
The founding organizations consisted of nine newspapers or magazines (for example, Le Monde Diplomatique and Politis), five alternative economic, social or cultural think tanks (for example Raison d’Agir), 14 unions (for example, La Conféderation Paysanne), five organizations that support illegal immigrants (for example, No Vox) and 14 other diverse structures (for example Les Amis de la Terre).
Francois Dufour is an influential French unionist and politician. He was the speaker of the farmer's union, La Confederation Paysanne from 1996 to 2000, co-founder and co-president of Attac from 1998 to 2006, and is currently a politician of the new party, Europe Ecologie.
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Stockemer, D. The successful creation of Attac France: The role of structure and agency. Fr Polit 9, 120–138 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2011.3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fp.2011.3