Graduation Year
2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Government and International Affairs
Major Professor
Bernd Reiter, Ph.D.
Co-Major Professor
Peter Funke, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Rachel May, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Earl Conteh-Morgan
Keywords
Contentious Politics, Democracy, South Asia, Civil Society
Abstract
This dissertation extends scholarship on the role of social movements against authoritarian regimes. It argues that movements turn into popular mobilizations and achieve successful outcomes when they occur in the consolidated phases of authoritarian regimes. Using the political opportunity structure framework, the dissertation maintains that a regime’s stability instils confidence in it to substitute coercion with incentives wherein it allows limited but strictly regulated freedoms for oppositional politics. This creates new openings for the challengers, enabling mobilization with an increase in size and scope. Unlike the initial phase, when the regime is consolidating and repressing collective action in a ruthless manner, the consolidated phase is a period in which the movements make the most of opportunities available that lead to their success. The dissertation explores it empirically by discussing three social movements against authoritarian regimes in Pakistan that took place in different moments of the country’s history: Student Movement, Movement for Restoration of Democracy, and Lawyers Movement.
Scholar Commons Citation
Hussain, Sajjad, "Struggling Against the Odds: Social Movements in Pakistan During Authoritarian Regimes" (2021). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/8795
