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Social Movements in Abeyance in Non-Democracies: The Women’s Movement in Franco’s Spain

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change

ISBN: 978-1-78560-359-4, eISBN: 978-1-78560-358-7

Publication date: 1 September 2015

Abstract

Social movements experience periods of intense activity and periods of abeyance, when collective action is very weak because of an inhospitable political climate. Non-democracies are extreme cases of hostile political environments for social movements. Drawing on a case study of the women’s movement in Franco’s Spain (mid-1930s to 1975) based on an analysis of published documents and 17 interviews, this paper argues that some non-democracies force social movements that existed prior to dictatorships into a period of abeyance and shape collective organizing in terms of location, goals, and repertoire of activities. Some social movements under prolonged non-democratic rule manage to link and transmit the aims, repertoire of activities, and collective identity of pre-dictatorship activists to those of post-dictatorship activists. This occurs mainly through cultural activities.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

For priceless comments on earlier versions, the author acknowledges the editor and four anonymous reviewers of Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Audrey Barberet, Rosemary Barberet, Laurence Cox, Cristina Flesher Fominaya, Roberto Garvía, Mary F. Katzenstein, Peter Stamatov, Margarita Torre, and attentive audiences of conferences and seminars where I presented previous drafts. This work was supported by the Commission of the European Communities (contract number FP6-CIT4-028746) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant number HA2012-32539). This paper is dedicated to my academic mentor Eduardo López-Aranguren as a sign of deep gratitude for his continuous support.

Citation

Valiente, C. (2015), "Social Movements in Abeyance in Non-Democracies: The Women’s Movement in Franco’s Spain", Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 38), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 259-290. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-786X20150000038009

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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