Citation

Roggeband C. Soc. Mov. Stud. 2007; 6(3): 245-259.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14742830701666947

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cross-national traffic of ideas and practices contribute to the spread of collective action across borders. These processes have only recently become the subject of study and theoretical discussion. The theoretical models that have been developed so far fail to take into account the complex nature of intercultural communication. No attention is paid to problems of interpretation and translation that may occur and how potential adopters adapt foreign ideas and practices to a new context. Moreover, the central role of networks and existing (power) relations within these networks in this process is often neglected. Instead, I propose an empirically grounded, alternative model of the process, based on the cases of women's organizations against sexual violence in the Netherlands and Spain. My approach focuses on the processes of reception, recontextualization and the relations within the diffusion network. The reception of innovative repertoires was different for organizations that came across the example of pioneers at an early stage than for later groups. Early groups had less critical distance and more readily identified with pioneers than later observers. While some early followers aimed at ‘literal’ translation of an inspiring example, far more adaptations were made by the later groups. Innovative repertories traveled through networks, but within these networks power struggles emerged over ownership and the right to transform.