Division of labour in social movements: the interplay between legal mobilization and public protest in Swedish mining resistance

Abstract This study explores why social movement actors employ legal tactics, focusing on 11 years of opposition to a mining project in Kallak/Gállok in northern Sweden. Previous research has highlighted contextual opportunities and constraints, resources, and traditions as explanations for the use of legal tactics. Using frame analysis, the study examines how movement actors interpret the factors that shape their tactical choices. The findings suggest that several explanations often interrelated in influencing specific choices, underscoring the importance of exploring movement actors’ motivations holistically. The movement's internal multi‐organizational field emerged as a novel explanatory factor. Actors adapted to the tactics and roles of others in the movement, resulting in a division of labour where some specialized in public protest and others in legal mobilization. Future research should attend to movement actors’ situational interpretations and internal movement dynamics when seeking to understand the use of legal mobilization in social movements.