The diffusion of direct action tactics: From Seattle to Toronto and New York (Washington, Ontario)

A study of the diffusion of information, this dissertation uses interview and network data to analyze the sources and patterns of variation in the diffusion of social movement tactics from the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization to social movement organizations in New York and Toronto between 2000 and 2002. The dissertation asks why Toronto and New York received and responded to information about the tactics in different ways and how relationships, political histories, organizational characteristics, discursive patterns, processes of interpretation and mechanisms of diffusion resulted in these different responses. In general, it found that the tactics diffused more fully to New York organizations than to their Toronto counterparts. It found that processes of deliberation, generalized repression, positions of structural equivalence and a fragmented social movement field facilitated diffusion. It confirmed earlier findings including the following: organizational formalization limited diffusion, participation in decision-making facilitated diffusion, opinion leaders can facilitate diffusion, and organizational networks and the history of contention in a particular site can facilitate or constrain diffusion.