ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to increase our understanding of the conditions in which specific forms of threat eventuate in collective action. It focuses on threats because of the heavy emphasis on opportunities in previous research, while acknowledging that in complex political environments various forms of both opportunity and threat may activate episodes of joint action. The chapter provides a conceptual typology of three forms of threat as scholars have previously developed for political opportunities. The typology is then applied to cases of mass collective action in Central America over the past century. The chapter concludes with suggestions on future lines of inquiry that may further advance our understanding of the role of threats in generating large scale social movement-type activities. Developing more well-defined political environments based on particular constellations of threat, opportunity, and pre-existing social ties and organizations will assist in understanding the likelihood of mobilization erupting and the forms it takes.
