Doctoral Dissertation Research: Legal Strategies by Social Movement Organizations

博士论文研究：社会运动组织的法律策略

• 批准号: 1228456
• 负责人: Laura Beth Nielsen
• 金额: $ 1.58万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1228456&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Legal; Strategies

Social movements have long played a crucial role in American democracy. Commentators frequently describe courts as the engine of social change, and social movements all along the political spectrum have successfully used litigation to impact law and policy. But for all the focus on whether courts are effective agents of social change, there is little research on how social movement organizations choose legal goals in the first place. By shedding light on how legal organizations interact with broader social movements, this research will help explain the role of legal organizations in American democracy.This project addresses two research questions. (1) How do different legal organizations develop specific legal goals and strategies? (2) How do legal strategies change over time? By comparing different organizations, this research identifies the key role organizations play in deciding how to respond to a changing legal context.Legal organizations develop an organizational identity that defines who is involved in the organization, what the organization does, and how outsiders perceive the organization. This research demonstrates that these organizational identities guide decisions on legal strategies. When faced with multiple potential strategies, organizations choose strategies most consistent with their broader goals. However, these broader goals and organizational identities can also sometimes change dramatically. This research examines how the legal context and countermovements impact this relationship between broader organizational goals and specific legal strategies.A multi method approach will be used to compare four legal organizations. Data will include: (1) historical studies of each organization, focusing on how organizations come to adopt specific goals; (2) interviews with lawyers at each organization; (3) interviews with clients of each organization; (4) interviews with lawyers opposing each organization; and (5) surveys of donors to each organization.Because of the central role litigation plays in social and political change, this research provides insight into the broader functions of the American political system.

长期以来，社会运动在美国民主中扮演着至关重要的角色。评论人士经常将法院描述为社会变革的引擎，政治领域的所有社会运动都成功地利用诉讼来影响法律和政策。但是，尽管人们关注法院是否是社会变革的有效推动者，但关于社会运动组织最初是如何选择法律目标的研究却很少。通过揭示法律组织如何与更广泛的社会运动互动，这项研究将有助于解释法律组织在美国民主中的作用。(1)不同的法律组织如何制定具体的法律目标和战略？(2)法律战略如何随着时间的推移而变化？通过比较不同的组织，本研究确定了组织在决定如何应对不断变化的法律环境中所扮演的关键角色。法律组织发展了一种组织身份，定义了组织中涉及的人、组织的工作以及外部人士对组织的看法。这项研究表明，这些组织身份指导着法律战略的决策。当面临多个潜在战略时，组织会选择与其更广泛的目标最一致的战略。然而，这些更广泛的目标和组织身份有时也可能发生巨大变化。这项研究考察了法律背景和对抗如何影响更广泛的组织目标和具体的法律战略之间的关系。数据将包括：(1)每个组织的历史研究，重点是组织如何采取特定的目标；(2)对每个组织的律师的采访；(3)对每个组织的客户的采访；(4)对反对每个组织的律师的采访；以及(5)对每个组织捐赠者的调查。由于诉讼在社会和政治变革中发挥的核心作用，这项研究提供了对美国政治制度更广泛功能的洞察。