Opportunity and threat behind the Iron Curtain: The failed diffusion of human rights activism in Romania

Abstract

Research has highlighted the importance of diffusion processes for the emergence and spread of collective action, yet less attention has been paid to cases where diffusion fails to lead to successful campaigns. This article analyzes an instance of failed movement diffusion to explicate how proximate episodes of contention interact with domestic configurations of opportunity and threat. The authors draw on a failed human rights campaign in communist Romania. In the mid-1970s, several Eastern bloc nations signed international human rights covenants to improve international relations, unintentionally sparking dissident movements across the region. Activists in Romania sought to emulate Czechoslovakia’s dissident movement, Charter 77. But despite the success of its model, the Romanian campaign failed to materialize. This article analyzes the movement and finds that the failed diffusion resulted from a combination of limited structural opportunities at the domestic level, weak perceptions of collective efficacy, and the state’s use of flexible repression strategies.