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Pragmatic Resistance, Law, and Social Movements in Authoritarian States: The Case of Gay Collective Action in S ingapore
Author(s) -
Chua Lynette J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
law and society review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.867
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1540-5893
pISSN - 0023-9216
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-5893.2012.00515.x
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , dissent , civil liberties , legitimacy , law , social movement , resistance (ecology) , ideology , politics , collective action , sociology , political dissent , political science , civil disobedience , democracy , ecology , biology
This article draws from a qualitative study of S ingapore's gay movement to analyze how gay organizing occurs in authoritarian states, and where and how law matters. S ingapore's gay activists engage in “strategic adaptation” to deploy a strategy of pragmatic resistance that involves an interplay among legal restrictions and cultural norms. Balancing the movement's survival with its advancement, they shun direct confrontation, and avoid being seen as a threat to the existing political order. As legal restrictions and as a source of legitimacy, law correspondingly oppresses sexual conduct and civil‐political liberties, and culturally delegitimizes dissent. However, when activists mount pragmatic resistance at and through law, it also matters as a source of contestation. Further, law matters as a trade‐off between reifying the existing order in exchange for survival and immediate gains. Yet, by treating law as purely tactical, these activists arguably end up de‐centering law, being pragmatically unconcerned with whether they are ideologically challenging or being co‐opted by it.