Animal Advocacy and the “Good Cop‐Bad Cop” Radical Flanking of Laboratory Research

This research explores the concurrent effects of radical and reformist approaches to animal advocacy on how animal welfare is institutionalized in laboratory research. The long‐term outcomes of militant animal rights activism are not adequately explained by the two current radical flank effect models: a positive effect where militancy helps moderates, and a negative effect where militancy compromises the movement as a whole. Interviews and participant observation were used to identify a third model—good cop‐bad cop radical flanking—that more accurately captures how a longstanding radical fringe of activism affects the institutionalization of animal advocates' demands. Contrary to existing models that describe immediate radical flank effects, a good cop‐bad cop model helps explain the long‐term effects of militancy and reformism on institutional practices, where activists' seemingly opposing efforts are, in fact, mutually reinforcing.