Economic globalization, inequality, and protest movements under capitalist political regimes, 1970–2007

Abstract

This article examines the impacts of globalization on protest movements. Highlighting the nature of capitalist political regimes in which capitalist societies and political institutions are deeply interconnected, I argue that the relationship between globalization and protest is profoundly constrained by two domestic conditions: the distribution of material resources and the type of political regime. Based on time-series, cross-sectional (TSCS) data in a global sample for the period 1970–2007, the findings indicate that globalization is more likely to increase protest in egalitarian democracies; globalization is not systematically associated with protest under dictatorships, except in the case of a highly unequal dictatorship in which globalization appears to revitalize protest, and hyperglobalization radically diminishes the possibility of protest, especially in democracies.