Political opportunity structure has five static components and consists dynamically of change in them

Evidence

In static terms, POS consists of (a) the multiplicity of independent centers of power within the regime, (b) the openness of the regime to new actors, (c) the instability of current political alignments, (d) the availability of influential allies or supporters, and (e) the extent to which the regime represses or facilitates collective claim-making. Dynamically, it consists of decisive change in any or all of these elements. In India, Congress’s losses in the 1989 election produced changes in all five elements that favored BJP activism. New centers of power were emerging within the regime; Congress’s decline opened the regime somewhat to new actors; the political scene was clearly becoming more unstable; at least for Hindu activists, influential allies and supporters were becoming more readily available; and (again at least for Hindu activists) the regime was moving toward facilitation of collective claim-making. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1175

Changes in political opportunity structure (POS) made the difference. In static terms, POS consists of (a) the multiplicity of independent centers of power within the regime, (b) the openness of the regime to new actors, (c) the instability of current political alignments, (d) the availability of influential allies or supporters, and (e) the extent to which the regime represses or facilitates collective claim-making. Dynamically, it consists of decisive change in any or all of these elements. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1175

Categorization

• DEFINE: Tilly’s operational definition of POS, the framework a rights-absorption hypothesis would need to plug into.
• QUESTION: Reader’s asymmetry test: regime facilitation/repression (element e) is where constitutional absorption would be coded — but Tilly treats it symmetrically toward all claimants, offering no purchase on differential defusion.
• XREF: This is the classic Tarrow/McAdam formulation of POS; connects directly to the reader’s regime-capacity work and the asymmetry test they plan. — connects to: Only their joint combination distinguishes social movements from other politics — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1164; Stabilized politics make direct legacy influence fade into structure — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 135; Structural change continues beneath the surface of conscious politics — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 1132 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 1175

Broader Connections

• Stabilized politics make direct legacy influence fade into structure #expands (0.82) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 135
• Structural change continues beneath the surface of conscious politics #corroborates (0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 1132