A Game of Whac-A-Mole
The BDS Movement and Its Fluidity across International Political Opportunity Structures
in Israel Studies ReviewAll currencies in US Dollar
Abstract
This article focuses on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement's utilization of ‘fluidity,’ conceptualized as the ability to adapt campaign tactics to multiple arenas and political opportunity structures simultaneously. Framing BDS as both a social movement and a transnational advocacy network, it demonstrates the movement's fluidity in the context of three campaigns: the campaign at the 65th FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) congress in 2015, which illustrates an ‘outsider’ strategy aimed at intergovernmental institutions; the 2014 Olive Declaration of municipalities endorsing BDS, which illustrates how local ‘insider’ campaigns can combine to create a translocal campaign; and the ‘Ferguson-Gaza moment’ in 2014, which illustrates how movements can engage at the level of civil society and embed themselves in the broader global justice movement.
Contributor Notes
NAAMA LUTZ is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a part of the DGSIR program for graduate studies in the Leonard Davis Institute of International Relations. Naama's research interests include naming and shaming, transnational advocacy networks, and securitization processes. Published works include research on the Eurovision Song Contest. E-mail: naamalutz@gmail.com