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The mobilisation of rural identities and the failure of the rural protest movement in the UK, 1996–2001

This paper uses tools developed in political sociology to analyse social movements and political discourse to examine the rise of rural protest movements in the late 1990s. Drawing on documentary evidence and interviews with participants in localised protests, the paper argues that the movements failed to become established because they were unable to form a common sense of identity amongst those living in rural areas. The paper moves from examining the increased political sophistication of the pro‐hunting movement through to the experience of localised pickets by farmers via the countryside marches and the fuel strike. It argues that, although the protests leaders were able to organise short term protests, they were unable to appropriate or provide explanatory scripts that made protest activity meaningful to many who took part. The paper concludes by considering the difficulties of attempting to organise a collective identity from contemporary understandings of rural life.