Social movements amidst democratic transitions: Lessons from the Braziliancountryside

Democratic transitions represent unique opportunities in which movements of the poor can coalesce, place their demands on the national agenda, and ins titutionalise their access to authoritative decision-making centres. The;op portunities and constraints movements of the poor face during transitions, however remain little understood and under-theorised. This study develops a n analytic approach that links national-level democratisation processes to the local-level movement dynamics that make collective action possible, par ticularly the creation and reproduction of collective identities and organi sational structures. The approach theorises how changing elite alliance pat terns during transition cycles, and redefinition of institutional linkages that bind state and society, shape the opportunities and constraints moveme nts face at successive stages of democratic transitions. The utility of thi s approach is demonstrated by examining the new unionism in rural Brazil, i n that country's democratic transition during the 1980s.