Unmaking Boundaries: Inter-faction Dynamics during the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Protests
Why, when and how do activist groups make public endorsements of others at particular
points of time, even though they may represent different identities, advocate for
different ideologies, disagree on their goals and the means of achieving them, and
may even suffer negative repercussions from making such endorsements? This talk examines
boundary-spanning behaviors of moderates and radicals within social movements. Existing
theories, which emphasize instrumental purposes and emergent identities, fall short
in explaining the timing and asymmetry of such interactions. This talk argues that
moderates and radicals respond asymmetrically to an unfolding political process. Short-term
events such as interactions with various institutional actors, brief windows of institutional
openness, elite endorsements, and international support alter political access and
audience scope, affecting how movement actors prioritize Tilly’s WUNC criteria (worthiness,
unity, numbers, and commitment) before the audiences. Such shifting priorities, in
turn, shape inter-faction relations. This analysis leverages original inter-organizational
endorsements network and political event datasets extracted from over 730,000 Telegram
posts during the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Amendment Bill protests. Blockmodels
and relational event models results show that moderates and radicals are more likely
to endorse across factional lines when interactions with institutional actors signal
restricted access to the polity and expose movement actors to external audiences.
The findings contribute to broad discussions on boundary-spanning behaviors, inter-organizational
coordination, movement dynamics, and contentious strategies.
Light lunch provided.
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