Abstract
Since the beginning of the AIDS crisis, scholars have written extensively about AIDS activism as well as the impact of the epidemic on the epidemic had on the LGBT community. There has also been extensive writing on the level of political action taken to combat AIDS from several different academic perspectives. Limited literature on the relationship between social movements, activism, and political response exists, however, it is largely unorganized and convoluted. This project examines the collective action tactics used by activists during the AIDS crisis from 1981 to 2001 to determine what type of tactics are most successful in receiving a Federal response to demands made. I examine the history of the LGBT community to provide context for the AIDS crisis and the subsequent formation of a social movement; I also present the political opportunity structure as a theoretical framework to test which tactics are effective and the reason for their success. Finally, I attempt to create a concise narrative of the theory employed to present a succinct argument that is backed by existing scholarly work. In this study, I find that direct action tactics are most effective in galvanizing Federal action, and that the intensity of this relationship is heavily impacted by the level of disruption an event causes, the presence of a target, and that target’s political affiliation.
Advisor
Ondercin, Heather
Department
Political Science
Recommended Citation
Connard, Jane, "How to Move Mountains: An Examination of the U.S. Political Response to the Aids Crisis" (2018). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 7892.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/7892
Disciplines
American Politics
Keywords
AIDS, case study, activism, social movement, political opportunity structure, HIV, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, federal response
Publication Date
2018
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2018 Jane Connard