Event Coalitions after the Event

This article introduces a conceptual framework for understanding the lasting benefits of coalition participation for SMOs. Based on ethnographic research into protest linked to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, it traces how individual movement organizations were able to benefit from participation in an event coalition. Lasting benefits, or legacies, of coalition participation included organizational changes, enhanced mobilization potential, and achieving political objectives. However, these were not distributed evenly among the organizations studied, with some more able than others to effectively benefit from coalition participation than others, based on three factors: organizational structure, decision-making processes, and movement mission. This empirically grounded framework provides new avenues for the study of coalitions and how individual movement organizations are affected by coalition participation.