When Activism Adapts to the Field

Differences in the strategies and actions of transnational movements are often conceived of in terms of the resources and political opportunity structures within each national context. This article claims that the diverging trajectories of activists in these spaces can also play a crucial role, and to this end analyses the partly divergent political socializations and trajectories of the leaders of the Alevist movement in both Turkey and Germany. The competences they brought to Alevist activism were various in form, something which can be related to the divergent developments of the movement. By taking into account the activists’ trajectories – which are related to the “political offers” available within a given context as well as being dependent on the resources of those involved – it is possible to enrich the interpretation in terms of political opportunities. It also makes it possible to sociologize the influence contexts have on movements, and more broadly to integrate the sociology internal to organizations, a dimension which is often overlooked in studies of transnational movements.