DIFFUSE SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AS FOCAL POINTS FOR NOVEL DEMANDS UNDER REPRESSION: EAST GERMANY'S PEACEFUL REVOLUTION, 1989-1990^* Available to Purchase

Given the importance of social movement organizations to mobilization, what role do diffuse, nonunified, oppositional organizations play in a repressive context? Using protest-event data from East Germany's Peaceful Revolution, which mobilized a novel demand for reunification with West Germany, I employ event-history analysis to model the relationship between the establishment of the diffuse opposition organization, Neues Forum and the adoption of a demand for reunification across East German locations. I find evidence that the early founding of Neues Forum in a location is associated with the adoption of a demand for reunification in that same location. I use primary and secondary sources to argue that under repression, a diffuse SMO may act as a focal point for an ideologically diverse set of participants who can then advance and mobilize novel demands without the imposition of an agenda from a unified opposition organization.