Solidarity and Tactical Coordination in the German Anti-Nuclear Movement: An Event History Analysis

Tension between militant and nonviolent movement factions is often a source of severe internal conflict in movements with radical agendas.  Typically the use of violent tactics leads others in the movement to publicly distance themselves from the perpetrators, sparking fierce internal debate over “the violence question.”  Nonviolent civil disobedience groups often engage in a variety of “taming” rituals designed to discourage, de-escalate, and/or punish the use of violence.  Yet these efforts rarely succeed in preventing the use of violent tactics altogether and can lead to debilitating internal rifts.  Some movements have begun taking a different approach: rather than one side trying to “tame” the other, they have developed a “diversity of tactics” approach.   To determine the causes and consequences of this kind of cooperation, we examine the historical development of the relationship between militant and nonviolent factions in the German anti-nuclear movement over a 14-year period from 1997 to 2011. By examining both internal and external framing and mobilization processes surrounding blockades of nuclear waste transports that took place in the “Wendland” region of northern Germany in 1997, 2001, 2010, and 2011, we show how the relationship between the two factions has changed from one of severe conflict and distrust to one of relative tolerance and solidarity.  We conclude with a discussion of the cumulative effects of this approach on the level of violence undertaken by the movement, as a result of the bi-directional social learning that has taken place between the two factions.