Political Opportunity Structures and Constitutional Inclusion of Animal Rights in Germany and Switzerland.

Provisions for animal protection have been included in the national constitutions of Switzerland (1992, 2000) and Germany (2002). Protective constitutional inclusion is a major substantive accomplishment, and considering other social justice movements also seeking increased political visibility and responsiveness, one wonders how animals were allowed into this realm of political importance? This study seeks to explain how, in three countries with largely differing governments and histories, animal protectionists achieved this substantial gain? Using McAdam et al's relational approach to social movement research (2001), and Kriesi et al's factors of political opportunity structures (1995), my examination of this under-researched topic sheds light on how animal rights activists successfully navigated differing political opportunity structures in each country. Variation between governments, history, and the types of constitutional inclusion, illuminates the dynamism between social movements, the public, and the government, where seemingly irrelevant factors, such as religious cleavages, prove influential, and where "brokerage" as a tactic proves determinant in both cases. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]