Protest in Time and Space: The Evolution of Waves of Contention

Abstract

Instances of collective action are often treated as independent events that can be understood outside of their spatial and historical contexts, and irrespective of other instances of political action. For instance, a whole sub-field of analysis asks whether repression increases or decreases collective action. Some studies investigate large numbers of (usually country-byyear) measures of repression and mobilization and correlate them as if collective actionrepression sequences were interchangeable and equivalent and their properties analyzable irrespective of their insertion in time and space. Other studies analyze single events or movements in a case study approach, which is only seemingly more sensitive to spatial and temporal insertion. For all their descriptive detail, they, too, often treat instances of collective action as independent events, and for the quantitative analysts' assumption of interchangeability they substitute an equally a-historical uniqueness. The perspective presented in this chapter holds that instances of collective action are not independent. They are neither understandable in their own, unique terms, nor are they merely interchangeable instances of general classes of events. The most fundamental fact about collective action is its connectedness, both historically and spatially, and both with other instances of collective action of a similar kind, and with the actions of different claim-makers such as authorities and countermovements.