Abstract
ABSTRACT This study addresses the question of why and how a protest can inspire individuals in distant countries. Taking the June 2013 protests in Turkey and Brazil as cases, it investigates the reasons why the Turkish protests were framed as one of the inspirational benchmarks by some Brazilian protesters. Drawing on grounded theory applied to the interviews with Brazilian protesters and qualitative secondary data, this study introduces the concept of ‘cathartic resonance’ as a mechanism of cross-national diffusion of protests and social movements. According to this mechanism, the moral shocks triggered by a foreign but relatable struggle may have an accelerating influence on sympathizers’ motivation for engaging in a similar struggle in their own context even in the absence of geographical, cultural, historical or organizational ties between the countries. Exploring the experiences, perceptions and emotions of protesters, this study proposes a more refined and extended understanding of diffusion by integrating the emotional and cognitive responses of individuals from an agentic and cultural approach.
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