Protest and Rebellion in Africa

Abstract

This article examines the sub-Saharan African portion of the global Minorities at Risk project. It analyzes the relationships between group characteristics, grievances, mobilization, state characteristics, and nonviolent protest and rebellion in Africa and compares these relationships with those found in a global analysis using the same data set. Mobilization is more important than group characteristics or grievances in explaining nonviolent protest and rebellion in the 1980s globally, and especially in Africa because political action there is taken mainly in response to the dynamics of mobilization and state response over the last 30 years. The state characteristics that are associated with the two forms of political action in Africa and globally differ; in the former case the strongest relationships are between greater—although partial—democracy in the 1960s and nonviolent protest and between competitiveness of participation in the 1960s and rebellion. An interpretive explanation of these differences is presented.