The spatial dimension of political opportunities: civil society and local governments in pro-migrant transnational networks

This article examines the uneven participation of pro-migrant civil society organizations (CSOs) in transnational networks with local governments within the European Union. While existing scholarship has highlighted the role of internal dynamics and network configurations, the influence of national and country-specific contexts remains underexplored. To address this gap, the article analyzes how macro-level, exogenous conditions influence CSO engagement in mixed transnational networks. Building on the political opportunity structure (POS) framework, it introduces a spatially oriented perspective that integrates insights from political geography, with particular attention to countries’ proximity to the EU’s external borders and their functional roles along migration routes. Drawing on a comparative analysis of three CSOs based in Italy, Germany, and Spain, the study demonstrates how spatial dynamics interact with institutional access, alliance availability, and state repression to influence political opportunities. By embedding spatiality within POS analysis, the article advances a more context-sensitive understanding of transnational pro-migrant activism and contributes to interdisciplinary dialogue between social movement studies and political geography.