Prosperous conﬂict: How backlash helps LGBT rights activists in the Western Balkans
Creators: name: Rosenberg, Ryan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2016

description: How has the prospect of European Union (EU) accession affected LGBT-rights movements in the Western Balkans? Traditional analyses focus on the legal effects of the accession process, in which countries adopt new laws in order to comply with the EU acquis. However, solely examining the legal effects of EU conditionality neglects
significant causative processes of social movement development. Oppositional theory, developed by Conor O’Dwyer, expands the scope of analysis of conditionality’s impact on social movements. Incorporating the political process model from social movement theory (McAdam 1999), oppositional theory examines the effect of EU conditionality
on the political opportunity structure, issue framing, and activist mobilization of LGBT-rights movements in EU candidate and new member states. In contrast to traditional Europeanization theory, which focuses on the legal effects stemming from the conditionality of the EU accession process, oppositional theory expects that joining
the EU will also shape how issues are framed and how activists are mobilized in candidate and new member states. This creates a more holistic view of LGBT-rights activism. In O’Dwyer’s formulation of oppositional theory, conditionality prompts backlash from anti-LGBT activists, resulting in a counter-mobilization of pro-LGBT activists and framing contests that are won by frames helpful to LGBT activists, resulting in a more vibrant LGBT-rights movement. To test this, I examine the development of LGBT-rights movements in Croatia and Serbia to see if they are consistent with the predictions of oppositional theory, and investigate if oppositional theory provides
a better explanation of the development of LGBT-rights movements than basic Europeanization theory focusing solely on conditionality. Ultimately, I seek to explain more fully how the EU accession process affects candidate and potential candidate countries, as well as uncover more about the mechanisms of activist development. I hypothesize that the experience of Polish LGBT rights groups described by O’Dwyer is reflected in similar experiences of Serbian and Croatian LGBT rights groups after the breakup of Yugoslavia. In addition, I posit that the development of these groups in an oppositional framework is distinct from how we would expect them to develop in a framework based solely on the legal effects of conditionality. By testing an expansion of basic Europeanization theory, and evaluating it against the historical record, I contribute to the development of Europeanization theory by either introducing valid alternative paths of LGBT-rights movement and development, or by strengthening existing
theories. To test O’Dwyer (2012) on new case countries, I research the development of LGBT-rights movements in Croatia and Serbia from the breakup of Yugoslavia to the present day. These case studies focus on the sociopolitical climate of the three countries, particularly as it pertains to LGBT rights and EU accession. The case studies will incorporate scholarly material as well as newspaper articles, interviews, and primary source documents.