Formal political institutions and social movements interact in various ways. In the last years, institutions in the national and international realm have created numerous opportunities for civil society to issue their criticism. While such strategies of openness may lead to the increased inclusion of movements’ concerns and legitimate the institutions, they do not always have the intended effect to deflect and deradicalize criticism. From existing studies, we know that attempts to impede radicalization do not always work: Institutional inclusion and cooptation strategies often have a dividing effect on social movements that stimulates parts of the movements to radicalize. Until now, there are only few systematic assessments on this relationship, though. How do social movements react to diverse institutional cooptation strategies? Drawing on extensive comparative research on different activist networks involved in the Global Justice Movement in Europe and Southeast Asia, this paper analyzes pathways of radicalization in light of ‘cooperative’ institutional behavior. Based on a relational and multidimensional approach we argue that the mode of interaction between institutions and social movements is important in shaping movement strategies and action. We identify the conditions under which institutional cooptation strategies can spark off radicalization in social movements in interaction with other factors such as (perceived) alternative opportunities in transnational, national and local contexts as well as processes of internal deliberation.
