ACTOR FORMATION, SOCIAL COORDINATION, AND POLITICAL STRATEGY - SOME CONCEPTUAL PROBLEMS IN THE STUDY OF SOCIAL-MOVEMENTS

A survey of the literature on social movements shows that the contribu tions by American and European scholars have shed considerable light o n two problems: why social movements emerge with particular identities and how movement organizers give coherence to a movement and coordina te the actions of their followers. The challenge faced by movement org anizers in seeking to bring about change, a challenge that forces a so cial movement to engage strategically, as a social actor, with its pol itical-institutional environment, has received, however, relative litt le attention. seeking to fill this gap in the literature, this article argues that the distinct analytically issues raised by the problem of political strategy social movements face can only be addressed throug h a synthesis that builds upon but goes beyond the contributions made by American and European scholars. The challenge is to conceive of soc ial movement as strategic actors while acknowledging the implications that a social movement's collective identity and social nature has for an analysis of strategic action.