Towards explaining outcomes: Social movement-legislative interaction at the state level

This dissertation addresses three questions. First, why do social movements sometimes choose to pursue their demands through the legislature and sometimes pursue them through other means? Second, when it does pursue a goal through the legislature, what accounts for its having its demands placed on the legislative agenda? Third, under what conditions would the legislature accommodate the social movement and pass its demands into law?;A review of the social movement life cycle literature reveals that organizational strength, favorable political opportunity structure and indigenous resources can increase the likelihood that the social movement will make demands. In addition, some literature suggests that organizational strength and favorable political opportunity structure will increase the likelihood that the legislature will grant the concessions. Underdeveloped in the literature is an explicit focus on the strategic interaction between a social movement and a government and the resulting outcomes. In addition, when a social movement has multiple goals, social movement theories are unable to specify which goals social movements should pursue first or most vehemently, or when they will pursue them through the legislature instead of another venue.;To address these lacunae, hypotheses are derived concerning conditions under which the social movement will choose the legislative venue, will make a demand from the legislature and what factors affect the demand's progress through the legislative process. It is argued that a social movement should make a demand through the legislature if it believes the likelihood of legislative gain is higher, or if a legislative victory would have more value, than a victory gained through other venues. A social movement should also be more likely to press a goal legislatively when the social movement is strong and when the state's political opportunity structure is conducive. Finally, the legislature is more likely to grant the demand if the value to the social movement is high, the social movement is strong and the political opportunity structure is conducive.;In the research design, variables considered important for social movement success are tested on the state level to allow for variation especially with respect to the political opportunity structure. The state level is also chosen because of the increasingly important role of devolution in policy matters. The selected case for testing the variables is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) movement because of its easily identifiable organizations, generally agreed upon goals, outsider status and easily identifiable countermovement.