Place, space, networks, and the sustainability of

collective action: the Madres de Plaza de Mayo

FERNANDO J. BOSCO
Abstract This article provides a framework for analysing social movements and
explaining how collective action can be sustained through networks. Drawing on
current relational views of place and space, I offer a spatialized conception of social
networks that critically synthesizes network theory, research on social movements,
and the literature on the spatial dimensions of collective action. I examine the historic
and contemporary network geographies of a group of human rights activists in
Argentina (the Madres de Plaza de Mayo) and explain the duration of their activism
over a period of more than two decades with regard to the concept of geographic
flexibility. To be specific, first I show how, through the practice of place-based
collective rituals, activists have maintained network cohesion and social proximity
despite physical distance. Second, I examine how the construction of strategic networks
that have operated at a variety of spatial scales has allowed the Madres to access
resources that are important for sustaining mobilization strategies. Finally, I discuss
how the symbolic depiction of places has been used as a tool to build and sustain
network connections among different groups. I conclude by arguing that these three
dimensions of the Madres activism account for their successful development of
geographically flexible networks, and that the concept of geographic flexibility provides a useful template for studies of the duration and continuity of collective action.

Scholarly work on collective action over the past three decades has shown that
attention to social networks is critical to understanding the development of social
movements. To date, research has linked networks to the micro-level dynamics of
activism and has shown that networks play a crucial role in processes of recruitment
and collective identity construction (Melucci 1996; Snow et al. 1980). In addition,
research has also indicated that networks are critical in the mobilization of activists
and social movement organizations. Scholars have found that social networks
contribute to linking local activism across different contexts and to creating transnational webs that facilitate the efficacy of collective action (Crugel 1999; Keck and
Sikkink 1998; Taylor and Rupp 2001).
Following network approaches to the analysis of collective action, this article
develops a cross-disciplinary framework that shows the importance of the spatiality of
different types of network relations in analysis of social movements. I seek to
examine network processes how networks operate at the onset and how relations
among activists are formed and sustained and their related spatial dimensions the
way relations among activists operate in places and across space. My overall objective

Global Networks 1, 4 (2001) 307329. ISSN 14702266

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Fernando J. Bosco
is to explain the duration of collective action and to do so with reference to the
dynamic spatiality of networks.
I pose different questions, each related to a particular concern regarding the role of
spatial dimensions of network relations. First, how do activists sustain networks of
inter-personal relations across space? Why and how does the repeated gathering of
activists in particular places matter for the duration of collective action? The answers
to these questions underline the role of social networks in the development and
maintenance of cohesion among activists. Secondly, in the context of increased transnational activism, how do certain network arrangements facilitate the mobilization of
resources needed for continued activism? The answer to this question clarifies the
ways in which different network relations bind social movements and activists
strategically and contribute to sustain collective action over time. Throughout the
article, I show that at issue in the sustainability of collective action is the capacity of
actors to develop geographically flexible networks that are embedded in different
places and operate at a variety of spatial scales. Moreover, I argue that this geographic
flexibility evolves from different types of relations within networks.
To develop my argument, I adopt a perspective on the analysis of social movements that draws from a theoretical tradition known in the social sciences (and
notably in US economic sociology) as network theory or network analysis. This
literature is a broad and heterogeneous federation of perspectives that conceptualizes
social structure in terms of a system of social relations (Emirbayer and Goodwin
1994; Scott 1991). It includes analyses of social networks that draw from rational
choice and utilitarian theories of action (Burt 1980; Wasserman and Faust 1994) as
well as social constructionist conceptualizations of networks that define networks as
contexts in which symbolic and cultural production takes place (Ansell 1997; Melucci
1985). Although the network literature is internally differentiated, my purpose is to
construct a conceptual framework based on one underlying feature of the network
perspective: the emphasis on providing explanations based on analyses of the
relations that enable and constrain the actions of those involved (Dicken et al. 2001).
My research on the historic and contemporary network geographies of the Madres
(Mothers) de Plaza de Mayo a social movement community that is part of the
1
human rights movement in Argentina informs the proposed framework. The
Madres de Plaza de Mayo began meeting in Buenos Aires in 1977 as a local group of
a few women searching for their missing sons and daughters who had been kidnapped
by the government. The original group divided into two separate organizations (the
Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Madres de Plaza de Mayo-Lnea
Fundadora) in 1986 as a result of conflicts over strategy and leadership. Nevertheless,
the Madres have remained among the most active groups in the human rights
movement in Latin America today. After 24 years, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo
continue mobilizing weekly in cities across Argentina, reaffirming their commitment
to the groups. At the same time, the Madres have expanded nationally and transnationally, forging alliances with other social movements and groups. Also, since the
organizational division, the history of both groups of Madres has been characterized
by the development of their own unique networks of members, chapters, and
supporters from other groups.
The history of this community of activists is already well documented and several
scholars have analysed different dimensions of the Madres activism in relation to

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2

other theoretical concerns. My intention here is not to write a new historical account
of the Madres but rather to highlight dimensions of their activism that have not been
documented to date and that are related to the research problem and questions
outlined above. By reconstructing some aspects of the historical geography of the
Madres de Plaza de Mayo, my goal is to illustrate how the duration of their activism
has been mediated by the development of an array of dynamic network relations. I
also provide examples from other social movements to illustrate further my argument
and to provide some comparison with the case of the Madres.
I structure the article in the following way. The next section provides a brief
background on theories of social movement networks and on the spatial dimensions
of collective action. After that, I discuss the way social movement networks are often
conceptualized and offer some ideas on how to think spatially about networks and
collective action. I then turn to an analysis of the place-based collective rituals of the
Madres de Plaza Mayo to explain how cohesion in a network that expands across
space can be sustained by symbolically (re)creating a sense of place. Following this, I
discuss the way in which the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and activists in other social
movements construct strategic networks relations that bridge spatial scales to sustain
mobilization strategies. Then I build upon the two previous sections to discuss how
the symbolic depiction of places often acts as a tool to build and sustain network
connections among different groups. Finally, I argue that these three dimensions of
the Madres activism represent their successful development of geographically
flexible networks and conclude by emphasizing the usefulness of this notion for future
analyses of collective action.
Social movement networks and the spatiality of collective action
In recent years, scholars have pointed out that thinking about collective action in
terms of networks of social relations avoids reifying social movements, namely it
avoids reducing social movements to homogeneous or concrete entities. It also
contributes to achieving a better understanding of the practices that enable collective
action in the first place (Pratt 1998). Much of the work that has followed this premise
has emphasized the role of interpersonal networks of daily life that revolve around
both physical and social locations (such as neighbourhood, community, ethnicity, and
sexuality) in providing meaning and purpose to practices of collective action (Alvarez
et al. 1998; Creswell 1996; Melucci 1985; Mitchell 1995).
At the same time, and taking notice of the increased interconnectedness between
societies in the current context of globalization and internationalism, scholars have
also begun defining contemporary social movements as transnational networks and
have started to analyse how mobilizing activities are managed through webs of
activists (Alvarez et al. 1998; Boli and Thomas 1999; Crugel 1999; Keck and Sikkink
1998). Within this perspective and also working in the context of the internationalization thesis, other scholars (most notably human geographers) have examined how
effective strategies of mobilization occur through networking at a variety of spatial
scales simultaneously (Castree 2001; Herod 1998; Miller 2000).
Two general notions about collective action emerge by integrating insights from
these different lines of research. First, there is some agreement that the definition of
social movements as networks is a useful conceptual tool to investigate how collective

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action depends on social relations embedded in webs of meaning and practice.
Second, there is an inherent spatiality to social movement networks that ranges in
scope from the locations and places that facilitate the practice of activism to the
transnational webs that link activists together. And as many have shown, this
spatiality makes a critical difference in the outcomes of purposive collective action.
Inasmuch as both these themes are present in contemporary research, work that
addresses how the spatiality of social networks is imbricated in social movement
processes requires development. Although we know that different social movement
processes (for example, recruitment, mobilization, or continuity) are mediated and
negotiated through networks with different spatialities, it remains unclear whether and
how the spatial dimensions of different relations in a network may actually affect the
development of such social movement processes.
I suggest thinking relationally not only about the character of contemporary
collective action but also about the spatial dimensions of the processes that generate
activism at the outset. In this respect, there are insights to be gained from geographers relational views of place and spatial scale. Place and spatial scale are now
conceptualized as being open, porous, and networked, rather than as being fixed,
essential, and hierarchical in nature (Massey 1999a; Massey et al. 1999; Swyngedouw
1997).
My suggestion, then, is that there are some conceptual intersections among
relational definitions of space and place, network approaches to collective action, and
the relational mode of thinking intrinsic to the network perspective. My position is
that it is possible to build upon existing insights to find points of connection and a
common conceptual background. In terms of epistemology, I suggest thinking
relationally is not just about the aspects of study but also about conceptual frameworks (Ettlinger 2001a). Relational thinking is also a way to bridge theories and
disciplines. Regarding the goals of this article, connecting different lines of research
relationally permits achieving a more complete understanding of the complexity of
several social movement processes. For example, network theory offers an interesting
framework to analyse phenomena that have yet to be fully understood from a spatial
perspective. Similarly, a spatial approach has the capacity to inform social movement
and network theories by uncovering how spatiality is related to the constraining and
enabling dimensions of relationships in a network.
Thinking spatially about social movement networks
In existing analyses of social movement networks, scholars identify at least three
types of networks that are crucial for the existence of collective action: inter-personal
networks of activists that facilitate recruitment and individual participation
(Klandermans and Oegema 1987; McAdam 1982; McCarthy and Zald 1987); links
between individuals and organizations that are based on individuals multiple
personal and group allegiances (della Porta and Diani 1999); and inter-organizational
networks used to coordinate actions and share resources that are crucial to achieve
large scale mobilization (Diani 1992; Rosenthal et al. 1985).
These different types of networks sometimes overlap, but they are not constituted
by the same members and relations at all times. Members multiple allegiances result
in a complex web of interactions among individual members and formal organ-

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izations, but distinct networks based on different types of relations and exchanges can
still be discerned within the larger web. In the case of the two groups of Madres of the
Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, for example, members of each group are linked together
through interpersonal networks based on strong emotional bonds. For members of
Madres de Plaza de Mayo-Lnea Fundadora, interpersonal links are built around the
recognition that each member is a mother struggling to find the truth about the
disappearance of her son or daughter and to obtain legal punishment for those
responsible for the crimes. For members of the Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo,
interpersonal bonds are built and sustained around the idea of socialized
motherhood. This means that each member is no longer the individual mother of a
disappeared person; rather, each member embodies the universe of all mothers of
disappeared children, including those women who never turn into activists.
At the same time, members of both groups of Madres have links to other human
rights groups and to other social movements because of strategic interests and only
on rare occasions as a result of emotional bonds or a shared group identity. Thus, over
time, relations among activist Madres have developed into an interpersonal network
based on strong emotional bonds and shared collective identity, and their contacts
with other groups have developed into a series of inter-organizational networks based
on strategic interests. Both types of networks are obviously intertwined because some
Madres are part of both networks, but the processes that have formed them and that
keep them together differ.
The benefits of defining social movements in terms of different types of networks
falls short of offering insightful analysis if we do not recognize at the same time the
different types of relations that are established through such linkages. Thus, from the
perspective of network theory, defining social movements as networks means viewing
participants and their actions as interdependent and seeing ties among them as
channels that allow the flow of both material and non-material resources. Furthermore, network theory instructs us that variation in the strength of relations or ties in a
network is important in explaining the dynamics of social processes. Whereas weak
ties allow for wider transmission of ideas, strong ties create more cohesive bonds
(Granovetter 1973). Distinguishing between different types of ties in the intertwined
networks of social movements is also crucial to understand the sustainability of
collective action. For example, attention to the development of interpersonal networks
based on strong emotional bonds can shed light on the way activists need only rely on
informal organizational structures (as opposed to formal social movement organizations) to sustain activism (Taylor and Whittier 1992). Similarly, attention to relations
among different groups can shed light on the way activists may rely on a formal social
movement organization for particular types of strategic action. Thus, at issue in the
analysis of social movement networks is how to identify the relationally differentiated
effects of various types of linkages and the implications that their emerging patterns
have for the outcomes of social movement activity. But a key question remains: how
should we think about social movement networks and their spatiality simultaneously
to gain better insights in our understanding of social movement processes?
I suggest that a better understanding of the effects of networks on the sustainability and duration of collective action can be obtained by conceptualizing social
movements as networks of interactions among both activists and formal organizations
what Diani (1995) calls networks of networks embedded in particular locations

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and places but at the same time capable of operating at different spatial scales, across
space. In particular, I want to think about how different kinds of network relations
occurring at different scales, stretching across space, and located in different places,
3
mediate the sustainability of collective action.
Masseys (1991, 1993, 1999b) conceptualization of social relations as geographic
and networked, and of space and place as the product of such interrelations what she
calls a power-geometry provides a useful template for such a project. Drawing
from a relational view of space and place, Massey theorizes social relations as
stretching out over space at different scales, from the household, to the local, to the
international arena. At the same time, she sees social relations as embedded in the
wider workings of local and global networks. Furthermore, Massey argues that this
has an impact in terms of the power individuals hold in relation to these flows and
interconnections, because different groups and individuals are placed in distinct ways
in relation to such flows. What I find interesting about Masseys power-geometry
argument is that it opens the door to exploring its connections with network
approaches to the study of social movements. Both perspectives share the interest of
attempting to understand better the impact of different kinds of network relations.
Massey, for example, believes that the power-geometry metaphor helps thinking
about who has more or less mobility and access along the networks. I argue that an
even more networked view of the power-geometry of social relations can lead us to
think about how activists achieve more control over mobility and/or access along the
networks. By specifying network relations as being differentiated simultaneously by
their spatiality and their type, we avoid an analysis of absolute space and rather
highlight the processes and relations that enable or produce particular spatialities
(Massey et al. 1999). As I show in the next sections, this simultaneous differentiation
is useful to explain how social movements sustain collective action through networks
over time.
Mobilizing through networks: sustaining cohesion by (re)creating a sense of place
A lot has changed (and a lot has stayed the same) since the first time a group of 14
women met in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires in 1977 in an attempt to demand
that government officials released the location of their disappeared children. From
1975 to the early 1980s, the Argentine military and government kidnapped, tortured
and killed thousands of people as a result of an ideological purge that was supposed to
rid the country of terrorists and opponents of the dictatorship. Today, over two
decades later, military officials in Argentina have faced trial, been prosecuted, sent to
jail, and ultimately granted amnesty by a constitutionally-elected president. Some of
the bodies of those who disappeared have been found and identified, but the majority
remains missing. At the same time, the human rights movement in Argentina has
experienced an overall decrease of both activist and popular support, as increasing
poverty, unemployment, rising income inequality and social exclusion have become
the most prominent social concerns in the agenda of activists, social movements, and
NGOs (Bosco 1998; Jelin 1998).
The Madres de Plaza de Mayo, after experiencing a period of rapid growth and
high mobilization through the late 1980s, have also experienced the negative
consequences of an organizational division and a continued loss of members as many

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women have grown older, become too sick to participate, or died. Yet, the two groups
of Madres de Plaza de Mayo continue their activities today. Their hundreds of
members are to be found in over twenty cities in the country, and Madres de Plaza de
Mayo support groups are spread out across Europe and North America. Some of the
smaller groups of Madres have only two or three members, yet these are among the
most fervent activists. Once a year, Madres from across Argentina gather in the Plaza
de Mayo for a massive 24-hour demonstration that is joined by thousands of activists
from Argentina and abroad. The Madres are an example of sustained collective action
that has little precedent in Latin America and the world in general. How can we
explain their resilience?
My answer here is that attention has to be paid to the way in which the Madres
managed their geographically extensive network of members over time. What is
significant about the Madres is not just that they constructed a network of women
activists that transcended the local; after all, social movements often extend their
activities across space rather than remaining localized. What is significant about the
Madres case and instructive to our understanding of processes of collective action is
the way members have been able to keep together a cohesive network of activists that
expands across many locations for over 20 years. I argue that to understand the
sustainability of this network, attention has to be paid to the micro-level processes
through which collective actors remain a collective.
Network analyses of social movements to date have shown that strong personal
ties facilitate the development of uniform activist subcultures and are important for
organizational recruitment (Emirbayer and Goodwin 1994). Cultural approaches to
the analysis of collective action have also used network concepts to underscore the
importance of communal bonds in the formation of collective actors (Melucci 1989).
From these perspectives, the strong communal bonds that join activists depend upon
solidarities that develop around a broader social conflict as well as on the manner in
which participants construct and sustain a collective identity (Johnston et al. 1994;
Rupp and Taylor 1999; Snow et al. 1986). These bonds are considered to be crucial in
the creation of social movement communities (Buechler 1990), which are often
defined as networks of individuals and groups loosely linked through an institutional
base, multiple goals, and actions and a collective identity that affirms members
common interests in opposition to dominant groups (Taylor and Whittier 1992). For
example, mothers of disappeared people in Argentina became a social movement
community known as the Madres de Plaza de Mayo when shared feelings of pain
acted as unifying bonds and as a result of shared grievances, women began
identifying collectively as a group.
The literature on social movement communities also provides implicit comments
regarding the geography of such networks. For example, in analysing the importance
of strong bonds for movement mobilization, Taylor and Whittier (1992) described
lesbian feminism in the United States as a social movement community that operates
at the national level through connections among local communities in a decentralized
and segmented structure. This description of lesbian feminism as a social movement
community intersects with geographers concern with examining the relations
between the concepts of community and local scale. For example, Miller (1992)
indicated that communities (understood as a way of life based on mutual understanding) are either localized constituted in discrete geographical settings or

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geographically extensive as is the case for the movement described by Taylor and
Whittier. The Madres interpersonal networks in Argentina are another example of a
geographically extensive social movement community characterized by informal
network structures that operate at a variety of spatial scales.
The case of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo is thus useful in posing new questions
regarding the sustainability of strong bonds among activists in non-localized social
movement communities. To date, most research devoted to explain the sustainability
of interpersonal networks of activists has been framed in relation to localized
networks. In general, there is a sense in the literature that localized bonds are an
important dimension to explain cohesiveness among groups of collective actors. For
example, research has shown that smaller settings such as neighbourhood churches
are better at generating long-term emotional commitments among activists than larger
ones (Jasper 1997). Even geographers interested in the relationship between collective
identity and localized social activity also have indicated that communal ties are
generally, though not necessarily, strongest when the opportunity exists for local
interaction (Miller 1992: 33). To date, the local scale has been considered crucial to
motivate the development of dense social relations that are in turn necessary for the
creation of a sense of community among activists. But the case of the Madres in
Argentina forces us to ask: how are strong bonds maintained in geographically
extensive networks of activists? If interpersonal networks are not localized, are there
any spatial dimensions to the processes by which actors sustain activist identities?
The activities of the groups of Madres de Plaza de Mayo across Argentina,
characterized by their high levels of activism in public places, provide some
interesting evidence to help us answer these questions. The Madres first began
meeting in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires in 1977. During these first meetings,
women who had previously encountered each other only in police stations, government offices, churches, and prisons as they searched for information about their
children, gathered in the Plaza to exchange information about the status of their
individual cases. As the Madres sat on benches in the square pretending to be
ordinary women, suspicious police officers and security agents threatened them with
arrest for loitering. The Madres were forced to walk. And so they walked, hand in
hand, talking, supporting and comforting each other, and exchanging information
about possible actions, under the watchful eye of the police. These walks were the
origin of the Madres weekly public meetings and marches that still take place today,
every Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires. In fact, the
Madres half-hour silent march around the pyramid in the centre of the square has
been their signature public display of activism ever since. During the first years, the
Madres meetings in the Plaza de Mayo became strategic to the mobilization of the
group. By meeting in the most important square in the country, right across the street
from the government palace, the Madres attracted the attention of the international
media, and gathered public attention around the world.
As I have previously noted, the Madres expanded across Argentina soon after the
original group first met in Buenos Aires. They first divided into several groups in the
vast Buenos Aires metropolitan area, where a Madre (selected on a rotating basis)
was responsible for keeping in touch with others members in different parts of the city
to ensure the flow of communication and information across a large urban area
(personal communication, September 1999). Once the initial group was organized and

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stable, the Madres embarked on a recruitment mission across the country. As noted in
minutes from a group meeting, by the early 1980s the Madres had decided to support
all kinds of activities in any places where it might be possible to formally establish a
new group of Madres (Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo 1984: 1314). By 1984,
there were already 21 groups of Madres de Plaza de Mayo across Argentina.
It was significant that all the new groups in the territorially widespread network of
Madres started to conduct similar public demonstrations in the main squares of their
localities at the same day and time as the original group in Buenos Aires. For
example, in 1983, when the mothers of the disappeared in the city of Tucumn
decided to start calling themselves Madres de Plaza de Mayo, they began gathering in
the main plaza of their city on Thursdays. The same year, in the northern province in
La Rioja, a group of just three women who used to meet regularly outside their church
after mass began the weekly marches in their own local plaza. According to them, that
was the time when they felt that they had really become Madres de Plaza de Mayo
(Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo 1997). The following year, in a national
gathering of Madres de Plaza de Mayo, the Madres signed a declaration stating that
they would work hard to promote weekly marches in plazas in all those places
around the country where such activities are currently not taking place (Asociacin
Madres de Plaza de Mayo 1985: 15).
These silent marches across Argentina continue today. Even after the original
group of Madres de Plaza de Mayo divided into two separate organizations, members
of both groups continue to walk together in the same places at the same time. Even
more significant is the fact that the occupation of public squares today no longer has
the strategic function than it once had, when use of a public place openly challenged
the military regime that forbade public demonstrations.
I argue that the Madres continued marches across Argentina have to be seen as an
example of processes of collective action that contribute to the sustainability of social
movement communities that extend across space. In fact, the Madres public meetings
in squares across the country (and sometimes even abroad) can be understood as
collective rituals that activists perform to reinforce their basic moral commitments
and group solidarity and to maintain their activist identities (Jasper 1997; Taylor and
Rupp 2001; Taylor and Whittier 1992).
The Madres collective rituals are no longer limited to a strategy for their
mobilization (for example, to achieve public visibility and attract media attention),
although this is still one of their functions. Interviews I conducted with members of
groups of Madres in different localities in Argentina indicate that, for these women,
being in the square at a specific day and time knowing that other women like them are
doing exactly the same in many other different places is a way to reinforce their
feeling of membership in the groups. Consider how some of the women described
their feelings towards their weekly gatherings:
the Plaza is our memory; our sons and daughters. It is being present and
resisting (personal communication, September 1999).
in the Plaza I feel myself. In the Plaza, it is as if we are constantly reuniting
with our children and finding ourselves (personal communication, October
1999).

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I dont think that we will ever achieve what we want, but I still come to the
Plaza as a way to get rid of my pain (personal communication, December 1999).
Over the years, members of both groups have constructed a collective identity based
on a redefined idea of motherhood (Bouvard 1994), but the sustainability of that
collective identity has also been dependent on the feeling of belonging to a network
that even though it has become geographically extensive, still has its own gathering
place. According to another Madre de Plaza de Mayo:
the Plaza, our Plaza, is our gathering point. I will be here walking every
Thursday at 3:30 p.m. until I die, because a Madre in the Plaza is a symbol of
continued struggle, a symbol of our struggle for our children, and a symbol of
our collective memory (personal communication, November 1999).
Even when some of the Madres travel abroad to promote their campaign or to
participate in activities with other social movements, members continue with the
weekly collective rituals. For example, the Madres have been known to select a
square in the particular place where they find themselves, calculate and adjust for
time differences, and then proceed to walk for half an hour around a monument or any
other landmark in the square in order to feel together with other Madres in Argentina.
Over time, the Madres weekly marches have actually become transnational collective
rituals that render their network visible around the world. For example, one of the
Madres told me that one of her fondest memory of a weekly march abroad was when
a group of Madres gathered in the Plaza de La Revolucin in Cuba to perform their
weekly ritual (personal communication, September 1999).
Not only have the Madres constructed their own lasting sense of place
(Cresswell 1996), but they have also re-created geographic proximity in a symbolic
manner. Even though the square in Buenos Aires is the only Plaza de Mayo to which
the names of the groups refer, all groups in the network use the same name they
have not replaced the geographic indicator in the names of their local groups to refer
to the names of their local squares. On the contrary, where it was possible, they have
physically marked the squares in a similar fashion to recreate the feeling of being in
the same place across many distant locations. For example, the Madres have painted
the white kerchiefs that every member wears on her head on the ground of every
square where they meet. Several women made me aware that Madres symbols are
painted on the ground on plazas across the country:
you should see how beautiful the paintings are in La Plata. And you know
what? It is everywhere in the country. I went to Mendoza and when I entered
San Martin Park, I saw it: a huge white headscarf painted on the ground with
the legend Madres de Plaza de Mayo I stopped so I could take a picture.
Then I went to downtown Mendoza, to the main plaza, and it was the same. I
have also seen symbols of Madres de Plaza de Mayo in plazas in Bariloche
and in Neuqun (personal communication, November 1999).
The example of the Madres in Argentina echoes hookss (1991) concept of
homeplaces of resistance, that is, places that can act as sources of solidarity and can

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serve as sources for the organization of future strategies of mobilization (see also
Routledge 1997). The continuity of these practices over the years and the way in
which the Madres describe their experiences in the plazas suggest that their weekly
gatherings are socio-spatial processes processes intrinsically linked to a place but
that are not limited or circumscribed to a locality and symbolic practices that are
linked to the micro-mobilization of this social movement community. My argument is
that, in different ways, these collective practices are important dimensions of the way
the Madres have managed to sustain a cohesive and territorially widespread network
of activists for over two decades. The practice of these collective rituals shows that, in
the case of the Madres, cohesive communal bonds are not encouraged by physical
geographic proximity but rather by a socially constructed symbolic proximity based
on the groups identification with a particular place. Therefore, at a more general
level, the routine practices of the Madres also indicate that place-based collective
rituals the rootedness and frequent practice of activities in particular places of
symbolic importance for a group play a role in the sustainability of activism and of
a shared collective identity even among members of geographically extensive
networks of activists.
Additionally, the marking activities on the squares can also be seen as contributing
to physically situate a collective memory (Jelin 1998) as well as unique personal and
often non-transferable feelings of community among members. Thus, marking plazas
may also be understood as a strategy to embody part of their collective identity in the
physical landscape. At the same time, this contributes to the sustainability and
cohesiveness of a geographically extensive network of activists.
The case of the Madres suggests that sustaining collective action over time is
related to the capacity of a group to develop and sustain a network of strong interpersonal ties that provides the basis for the construction of a collective identity and
the continued sharing of grievances. While local scale is important for the formation
of interpersonal networks because the strong ties that are necessary to the sustainability of communal bonds are often enhanced by localized social interaction, this is
not always necessarily so. As Ettlinger (2000) noted, the level of maturity of a
network may mediate the extent to which localized interaction can be reduced and
spatial dispersion can become possible. Collective actors in either localized or geographically extensive networks devise a myriad of strategies to maintain and negotiate
a collective identity. As this case indicates, such strategies often include a strategic
use of places to maintain a network. The example of the Madres in Argentina
instructs us that, in cases of geographically extensive networks, activists can sustain
inter-personal bonds by the practice of place-based collective rituals that appeal to
symbolic uses and representations of places believed to be strategic for their group.
Mobilizing resources: the role of strategic and geographically flexible networks
The analysis of place-based collective rituals sheds light on how activists sustain
geographically extensive interpersonal networks. However, other network processes
also contribute to the sustainability and duration of collective action. In particular, I
want to consider the role that networks based on links between members of different
activist groups play in mobilizing resources that are crucial to sustain collective
action.

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Fernando J. Bosco
In the social movement field, scholars to date have drawn from resource
mobilization theory to explain how the presence or absence of resources intervenes in
the success or failure of the mobilizing strategies of social movements (McAdam
1982; McCarthy and Zald 1973, 1987). A similar concern with resources is evident in
network theory. Network scholars have suggested that the different positions occupied
by actors within a network (such as whether or not an actor has a common set of
linkages to others) has implications for establishing who has more access to resources
and to opportunities for control (Burt 1980, 1992; Knoke and Kuklinski 1982).
However, neither social movement nor network theory pay much attention to the role
of the spatiality of network relations in their discussion of the way social movements
access resources through networks.
By contrast, some scholars have begun to pay increasing attention to the effects of
spatial scale in the mobilizing strategies of social movements. For example, it is now
commonly argued that the effective mobilization of activists often requires scaling
up making connections outside of the local, creating transnational webs (Cox
1998; Herod 1997; Keck and Sikkink 1998) or even developing multiscalar
strategies of collective action (Castree 2001). However, the different types of relations
that are established through networks remain unclear despite a relational understanding of spatial scales and the adoption of a network vocabulary.
By combining insights from research on social movement networks and on the
spatiality of collective action, I suggest that it is possible to specify how different
network relations that operate a variety of spatial scales facilitate or constrain the
access to resources available elsewhere or to positions of power and control. In the
context of the general goal of this article, the question I entertain in this section is:
how do the spatial dimensions of different network relations impact on the way social
movements assemble resources that are crucial for the sustainability of their mobilizing strategies? Let me illustrate this problem.
The mid-1970s in Argentina saw the emergence of several human rights groups
and organizations attempting to bring attention to the human rights violations of the
military government. In general these nascent organizations found it difficult to
assemble the resources necessary to sustain activism and mobilization in an environment of strict government control, illegal repression, and political violence. The
historical context also played a negative role in the development and sustainability of
a network of human rights activist because the prevailing conditions limited activists
organizational capacity. Yet, some groups were more effective than others in mobilizing. How can we explain such differences in effectiveness? I suggest that the
specific network strategies deployed by the Madres were themselves more effective
than the strategies adopted by other groups.
Originally, the Madres (like many other groups) were unable to attract media
attention, obtain legal advice and support, and amass money and other resources
necessary to mobilize within Argentina. Their strategy to overcome these constraints,
however, was different than those of other groups. From the beginning, the Madres
did not feel comfortable working with the other human rights organizations. The
Madres approach to politics, characterized by what Lichterman (1996) calls a
politics of personalized commitment, did not fit well with the more bureaucratic
approach that other human rights groups were following. They did not have access to
and chose not to participate in any formal network of support within Argentina.

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Instead, they decided to seek the help of Argentines who had left the country at the
onset of the military dictatorship as well as of activists and supporters abroad. Many
of the expatriates were relatives or friends residing in Europe who were willing to
contribute to their cause and support their activities from their exile. One of the
Madres explained that:
At that time, we did more than other human rights groups. We began travelling
abroad to tell the world what was going on in Argentina. Abroad, they
understood our pain. In France, in Italy, in Norway and in Denmark, they gave
us a hand (personal communication, October 1999).
From the onset, the Madres began to assemble a support network that, much like their
interpersonal networks of activists, did not remain localized. Rather, they established
linkages to people in different places so that their support network was born
transnational. The initial creation of a geographically extensive network was a crucial
strategy to overcome the scale-specific constraints (Miller 1994) that they were
facing in Argentina.
For the Madres, however, it was not just a matter of building a network that was
not localized. Their transnational connections were strategic because such linkages in
turn connected the Madres with members of governments and progressive social
movements across Europe (and to some extent, North America). In fact, the relation
with Argentines residing abroad was not the most important strategic function of the
network connections. Rather, the most important aspect of their initial network was
that these first connections allowed the Madres to tap into other networks located
elsewhere to obtain critical resources that were locally unavailable to them.
The experiences of the Madres parallels Burts (1992) structural hole argument
about network relations. According to Burt, disconnections in a network often prevent
actors from establishing strategic linkages with others. But these structural holes
4
(Burt 1992) can be used as an advantage if groups build bridges that span the holes.
In Burts theory, bridges are strategic network relations that can maximize information exchange, minimize redundancy and enhance actors capacity to acquire or
have access to resources. Regarding social movement networks, for example, bridges
to other networks can become strategic relations that maximize opportunities for
cooperative relations, the pooling of resources, and the joint planning of mobilizing
strategies among different groups (Knoke and Wisely 1990).
In the case of the Madres network, groups of Argentines in Europe became
intermediary nodes through which bridges to European social movements were
constructed. These strategic bridges functioned as routes for the circulation of
resources that the Madres needed, for example, monetary contributions or legal
advice. The geographic location of these intermediary network nodes was also crucial,
as activists in Europe had access to government and media channels that were willing
to investigate the Madres accusations and bring them to the international public
arena.
Later on, once the strategic bridges that guaranteed the flow of resources were
secured and the Madres struggle had captured the attention of the international
human rights movement, they went on to expand their network by building additional
linkages with other social movements and groups in Argentina. They also began to

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Fernando J. Bosco
enlarge and secure their network of members by continuing to recruit other women in
similar situations across the country. Other human rights organizations followed a
different strategy. Several groups sought to mobilize by prioritizing building linkages
with other groups within Argentina first, seeking the support of other human rights
groups, unions, political parties and religious institutions. Other more bureaucratic
social movement organizations also attempted to build national and international
connections simultaneously (see Sikkink 1996). Even though several human rights
groups were able to secure a broader coalition boasting a larger membership,
technical and expert knowledge, and connections to different sectors of Argentine
society, they found it much harder to gather all the necessary resources to gain
momentum and sustain collective action over an extended period of time. Even
though many groups stayed active, they were never able to achieve the large-scale
mobilization that the Madres achieved and enjoy today, in large part as a result of
their international bridges and the resources associated with them. The key difference
was that the Madres built a geographically extensive network with strategic bridges
that operated at several spatial scales, and this network arrangement resulted in an
5
effective way to sustain their mobilizing strategies over time.
The case of the Madres highlights the importance of strategic network relations
established at different spatial scales for effective mobilization. At first glance, their
experience seems to suggest that social movements opportunities for sustaining
mobilization strategies are enhanced by their capacity to develop geographically
extensive networks of activists with connections to other groups across spatial scales.
This conclusion, however, should not be taken as an inevitable outcome. In his
discussion of the origins of the civil rights movement in the United States, Morris
(1984) explained how the mass movement that gave rise to the Southern Christian
Leadership Council (SCLC) and other civil rights organizations depended on organizational resources that were accessed through local churches and through the preexisting local networks of chapters of existing social movement organizations such as
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). For
example, the networks of the SCLC and the NAACP were so intertwined that both
organizations shared their personnel and funding bases (Morris 1984). The organizational history of the US civil rights movement calls our attention to the importance
of local and indigenous network resources for mobilization as opposed to outside,
non-local resources in the case of the Madres in Argentina. In fact, a look at the
history of organizations such as the SCLC demonstrates that the strategic importance
of geographic expansion (the scaling up strategy) was often minimized because
local chapters that were unable to aggregate sufficient resources alone were able to
do so by establishing strategic network ties with another group also at their local
level.
Additionally, the case of the Madres in Argentina is also an instructive call to
reconsider current claims about the impact that shifting the scale of struggle (either
scaling up or establishing a multiscalar strategy) has on the potential of social
movements for greater effectiveness. Such reconsideration must include an increased
attention to the different types of network relations established across spatial scales.
Consider the current differences between the diverse networks of the Asociacin
Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo-Lnea Fundadora (the
two groups that came to be as a result of the Madres division in 1986). Over time, the

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Asociacin Madres has become increasingly separatist, requiring that its members
maintain an exclusive relationship with the group and precluding them from being
part of other human rights organizations. The exclusive affiliation system of
Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo has had some benefits, as it has helped create a
tight network among Madres across spatial scales in different localities in Argentina
and even abroad. This network is partly sustained through the place-based collective
rituals that I have summarized before. But at the same time this network arrangement
has isolated members from interacting with other groups.
On the other hand, many members of Madres de Plaza de Mayo-Lnea Fundadora
also belong to other human rights groups within and outside Argentina. For example,
a member of this group is currently the president of FEDEFAM, a transnational
federation of relatives of disappeared people that operates throughout Latin America
(personal communication, August 2000). By establishing connections with other
groups, Madres de Plaza de Mayo-Lnea Fundadora has increased its visibility,
promoted campaigns with other organizations, and become an active part of a
transnational network of human rights organizations. The case of Madres de Plaza de
Mayo-Lnea Fundadora is opposite to the case of the Asociacin Madres de Plaza de
Mayo, where the network arrangement is characterized by the absence of nonoverlapping ties that could provide exchange benefits (Ettlinger 2001b). Under such a
network arrangement, shifting the spatial scale of action does not necessarily benefit a
group of activists because the ties in the network are not strategic and may only lead
to redundant exchanges of resources (Burt 1992; Granovetter 1973).
The examples of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina and of the
organizations in the civil rights movement in the United States suggest that the
sustainability of more effective mobilization strategies often requires collective actors
to build geographically flexible networks with strategic bridges to other groups.
Geographic flexibility refers to the capacity of the networks to operate at a variety of
spatial scales to overcome scale-specific constraints that may arise out of contextspecific conditions. It is not limited to geographic expansion, because expansion is
just one strategy and may be effective only under certain conditions. For example,
relative to networks that connect different groups of collective actors, geographic
expansion maximizes the strategic potential of network bridges (as it was at the
beginning for the Madres), but local bridges may provide similar benefits if both
another receptive group willing to cooperate and favourable political opportunity
structures are present at the local level (as it is the case in Morriss 1984 account of
the origins of the US civil rights movement). The importance of geographic flexibility
ultimately is related to the capacity of a social movement or a group of activists to
alter the spatial reach of strategic network relations to sustain effective mobilization
strategies.
Framing symbolic places to establish strategic network connections
So far, I have argued that the embodiment of collective rituals in particular places
strengthens bonds among activists and contributes to the development of a stronger
sense of community among activists even if their networks are geographically
extensive. I have also suggested that the interplay between spatial scales and strategic
ties leads to the construction of geographically flexible networks that facilitate

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Fernando J. Bosco
cooperation among different groups and provide possibilities for accessing resources
that are crucial for sustaining mobilization strategies. I now want to show that these
different network processes are also interrelated with other strategies of mobilization
beyond the sustainability of activist commitment or the accessibility of resources. I
am interested in the way network relations play a role in the efforts of a group of
activists to mobilize other activists on its behalf. How do groups of activists in one
locality become mobilized and identify with place-specific issues that concern groups
elsewhere? I suggest that an answer to this question has to do with whether activists in
a locality are able to negotiate and manoeuvre strategically the relations between the
different networks in which they participate. Moreover, I suggest that the spatial
characteristics of a groups networks play an important part in such strategic
manoeuvring.
The Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina are not the only groups that rely
on the symbolic use and depiction of particular places (in this case, plazas) to
mobilize for seemingly non-localized issues such as human rights violations. Similar
processes have been evident in the case of other human rights groups in Argentina,
Chile, and Uruguay in the last decade. For example, following so-called
democratization in these countries, many human rights activists have become
involved in struggles over the fate of sites where repression by military governments
once took place, such as clandestine detention centres (see Jelin 1998). While some
groups have advocated the demolition of such buildings and the construction of
monuments or memorials in their place as a way to erase all traces of the past from
the physical landscape and to stimulate collective healing, others have vehemently
opposed demolition. For these latter groups (including, for example, the Asociacin
Madres de Plaza de Mayo), the conservation of these places is crucial for sustaining
emotional bonds among members. It is from within these sites that their collective
identities (their shared identification as victims or relatives of victims of torture and
murder by the state) emerged, and such sites act as the material embodiment of their
identities.
The identification with particular places may actually be of strategic importance
for the mobilization strategies of social movements to the point that it may contribute
to the construction of strategic network ties with activists from other groups either
in the same locality or elsewhere. This is possible because activists may deploy
symbolic images of place to match the interests and collective identities of other
groups and thereby mobilize others and gather support for their causes. In his analysis
of a large coalition of different anti-nuclear groups who opposed the construction of
the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo, California, Jasper (1997)
provides an interesting account that gives some support for these ideas. According to
Jasper, because Diablo Canyon with its beautiful vistas and natural setting had a
central place in the history and mythology of these groups subcultures, activists had a
sentimental attachment to the place and thus would travel from far away localities to
actions staged there. Jaspers example illustrates how local groups of activists
construct an alternative identity for a place (in this case, as a sacred site for all
activists concerned with the environment) and strategically frame (Snow et al. 1986)
the identity given to the place to mobilize others outside their area (in this case, by
encouraging a collective pilgrimage of activists to a site seen as sacred among
6
movement members).

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The Madres similarly often frame the Plaza de Mayo in their public discourse in
strategic ways to obtain the support of other groups. This is particularly evident on
occasions when the Madres plan demonstrations that would benefit from a large
showing of activists, such as their annual 24-hour March of Resistance in the Plaza de
Mayo. On these occasions, the Madres describe the plaza as the place of resistance for
everybody and for every cause and popular struggle. In a way, when the Madres need
the mobilizing support of other groups, they symbolically and discursively return
the plaza they claim as their own place every Thursday to, as they say, el pueblo
(literally meaning the people, but having the connotation of popular sector or the
oppressed). By framing the plaza as a site that embodies the history of the most
significant popular uprisings in Argentine history, they appeal to a large and diverse
constituency and draw support from activists across Argentina and even abroad.
Framing the identity of a place in the way the environmental groups that Jasper
(1997) describes and in the way the Madres have done it is in fact an important step
towards establishing a strategic network connection to other groups. If this frame
alignment process is successful, namely if the linkages between the activists
interpretive orientations are congruent and complementary (Snow et al. 1986), this
becomes the equivalent to establishing a strategic network tie. In this case, a symbolic
image of place becomes a crucial resource in the assembling of other resources
necessary for mobilization. As far as the Madres are concerned, the construction of
this type of strategic network tie to other groups is also dependent on the existence
and duration of other types of pre-existing network tie (for example the bonds among
Madres themselves that revolve around the strategic designation of the plaza as
central to the groups culture). This suggests a way in which ties built around the
symbolism of a particular place can be mobile: they can appeal to and mobilize
groups in other localities. Thinking about the relations between the strategic framing
of places and the development of strategic networks ties is a way to begin challenging
the notion that all types of collective action motivated by an attachment to place
necessarily reduce protest to the parochial level (see, for example, Harvey 1996: 324).
As the case of the Madres shows, their attachment to the Plaza de Mayo has been
crucial in mobilizing other human rights groups and other social movements across
Argentina and Latin America.
The examples above show that even groups of activists dealing with issues that do
not typically concern problems in a particular locality or territorial community still
often identify with sacred places and, furthermore, utilize them in strategic manners
to help construct strategic network ties. However, whether the symbolic framing of
places can be used strategically for the mobilization and aggregation of resources
through the establishing of a strategic network tie depends on the subjective interpretations and decisions of those involved, because frame alignment processes are
temporarily variable and subject to negotiation (Snow et al. 1986). The outcomes of
framing processes can change over time and are often multiple; depending on the
interpretation and meanings attached to a place or a place-based collective ritual, they
can either foment or discourage building strategic bridges to other networks to engage
in cooperative relations with other groups. The general point here is that attention to
the unfolding of such framing processes helps conceptualize the network linkages
between the personal dimensions of collective action and the spatial aspects of
strategies of mobilization.

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Fernando J. Bosco
Summary and conclusion: the significance of the Madres activism
In the context of the human rights movement in Argentina and Latin America overall,
the Madres stand out as one of the most successful groups of activists. From their
collective rituals in plazas around the country to the strategic transnational
connections established from the beginnings of their activities, the Madres de Plaza
de Mayo over the years have developed strategies of mobilization at different spatial
scales that have contributed to the duration and sustainability of their activism.
I have taken the Madres activism as a platform for developing some theoretical
insights about the importance of geographic flexibility in the analysis of social
movement networks for several reasons. First, I believe that the Madres allows us to
establish empirical parallels to the experiences of other social movements and,
further, to make comparisons and general statements about the different outcomes of
the spatial dimensions of collective action. This case is useful because, despite the
uniqueness of the duration of their activism, the Madres are in fact similar to many
other contemporary groups of activists. For example, the women who currently
identify as Madres de Plaza de Mayo are a social movement community held together
by a combination of a strong collective identity built around a redefined idea of
motherhood and a firm commitment to challenging the power of the state. These
dual characteristics a strong cultural and political orientation make the Madres de
Plaza de Mayo similar to an increasing number of existing and emerging social
movements in Latin America and other parts of the developing world involved in
cultural politics, from peasant and ethnic groups to womens organizations (Alvarez
et al. 1998). Thus, despite the distinctiveness of the Madres, their general characteristics are instructive for the formulation of general principles that can apply to other
contemporary social movements, specifically with reference to the relationship
between the spatial dimensions of activists networks and the duration and
sustainability of collective action.
Second, throughout this article I have tried to show that what is significant about
the Madres is not any one particular dimension of their activism per se (for example,
their collective rituals or their symbolic framing of plazas in their public discourse to
attract the support of others). Rather, it is the spatial dimensions that all these
different strategies have in common. My suggestion is that what is exceptional about
the Madres activism is the way in which this social movement community has
strategically managed the myriad of networks that it has developed and into which it
has entered over the years. Moreover, and related to the main point of this article,
what is significant is how the spatiality of such networks has assured the duration and
sustainability of their activism.
It is not only that the Madres have performed collective rituals every week since
the beginning of their activities, but rather, that through the practice of place-based
collective rituals in plazas around the country (and around the world sometimes) they
have found a strategy to sustain the cohesion of a network of activists that is not
localized but that is rather geographically extensive. Thus, the Madres have used a
specific spatial strategy (based on the symbolic power of place) to deal with the
particular spatial characteristics of their own network of members.
Similarly, while the creation of a transnational network of support is a significant
development per se in the mobilization activities of any social movement, the point

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about the Madres goes beyond that. Within the transnational network that they
created, they also established bridges across spatial scales (sometimes abroad, sometimes within Argentina, often both) that allowed them strategically to tap different
networks for a variety of resources that proved critical for the duration of their
activism. A particular spatial strategy associated with a specific type of strategic ties
within their support network was significant. To be specific, I suggest that what made
a difference is the geographic flexibility of such a network. Therefore, the case of the
Madres instructs us that the sustainability of strategies of collective action often
hinges upon actors capacity to manoeuvre strategically different types of network
relations across spatial scales.
In sum, these remarks about the Madres indicate that the spatiality of social
movement networks mediates the extent to which a sense of cohesion among activists
and different mobilization strategies are more or less effectively sustained. However, I
would not want to suggest that the spatiality of a network alone ensures the duration
and sustainability of collective action. Other mediating factors that I have not
considered in this article are also crucial. For example, the ability to mobilize
effectively resources through networks also depends on the level of competition for
resources among organizations and on the characteristics of the different social
movements to which activists connect through strategic ties. Similarly, the sustainability of cohesion in interpersonal networks also depends on the characteristics of its
members, as well as on leadership and organizational styles. My suggestion is,
however, that the spatiality of the networks of social movements must not be
overlooked in analyses of social movement processes.
In conclusion, the argument I have presented is an attempt to push further our
understanding of the importance of networks in analysis of social movements. I have
done that by considering the spatial dimensions of specific network processes that
nevertheless are common across a number of social movements. I suggest that an
investigation of variation in the spatiality of social movement networks is better
served by a view of networks that recognizes the importance of interpreting the
significance of different relations in the light of theoretical concerns specific to the
processes under consideration, because social movement processes and their spatial
dimensions are complex and highly dynamic. Finally, further insights into the
importance of the spatiality of collective action can be gained by pursuing an
approach similar to the one in this article from a comparative perspective, focusing on
analysing the implications of variation in the spatiality of networks over time and on
the variety of ways in which network cohesion and sustainability is achieved, or
conversely, dissolved.
Fernando J. Bosco is at the Department of Geography,
The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Acknowledgements
This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation
under Grant No. BCS-9906763. A previous version of this article was presented at the
Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Pittsburgh, PA, April

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Fernando J. Bosco
2000. I thank Nancy Ettlinger, Tyler Hower, Byron Miller, and three anonymous
reviewers for insightful comments on a previous version of this article. In addition, I
am grateful to this journals editor, Alisdair Rogers, for his constructive and
encouraging suggestions.
Notes
1. Data about the Madres are based on six months of fieldwork in five localities across
Argentina conducted between 1999 and 2000. For this article, I draw on data I obtained
from the archives of the two Madres organizations in Buenos Aires. The internal and
public documents I examined consisted of organizational newsletters from the period 1977
to 1984, the Asociacin Madres de Plaza de Mayo newspaper for the period 1985 to 2000,
and organizational, personal correspondence, and scrapbooks dating back to 1976. I also
rely on data extracted from a set of 40 open-ended interviews with activists who identify as
Madres de Plaza de Mayo.
2. Several scholars have focused on analysing the gender dimensions of the Madres practices
and discourses and their significance for social movements and for a feminist politics of
resistance (see for example, Bouvard 1994; Radcliffe 1993; Taylor 1997). Others have also
included discussions of the Madres activities in the context of the human rights movement
in Argentina (for example, Jelin 1998; Sikkink 1996).
3. Even though some scholars have claimed that space is bound into networks (Murdoch
1997), I argue that we still need a more precise spatial conceptualization of network
relations to avoid using a spatial vocabulary that erases the difference between the social in
general and the more explicitly spatial (see Pratt 1999). My position is that the analysis of
the spatiality of networks requires a constructionist view of networks that emphasizes
different types of network relations without making space bound into networks to the extent
that, in the end, there is no distinguishable difference between such a perspective and that
of the (practically non-spatial) network theories that we know today.
4. In Burts (1992) network theory of competition, a structural hole is a relationship of nonredundancy between two nodes, or a disconnection between players in a network.
5. I am not suggesting here that the Madres were the only group to create transnational
connections, since the existence of an international network of human rights activism
existed before the Madres formally organized (Sikkink 1996). My point is that the nature
and type of their transnational connections were significantly more effective than those of
other groups.
6. The literature on social movement framing explains how social psychological dynamics
condition the opportunities, organization, and actions that facilitate collective action.
Framing, a crucial aspect of the mobilization process, is the conscious and strategic efforts
by groups of people to fashion a shared understandings of the world and of themselves that
legitimate and motivate collective action (Snow et al. 1986).

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