ABSTRACT
Students of social movements have traditionally focused on factors determining or influencing their emergence and development. Yet the literature on this subject has largely neglected the consequences of social movements’ action. Although a lot of work on social movements at least mentions some of their outcomes, systematic studies on the sources and causes of their success are still underrepresented. 1 Moreover, cross-national studies, which are most suited to inquiry into the conditions under which certain types of social movement outcomes occur, are almost completely absent. In general, there is a controversy in the literature between authors who stress the movement characteristics and those who underline external (political) factors as crucial for the success of social movements or other outcomes. Most studies have focused on the effects of insurgency or the use of violence by protesters. The urban riots that took place in American cities during the sixties have often been the object of empirical analyses of such effects. 2
