Protest Engagement Research Articles

Engagement in Pro-Choice Protests: The Role of Gender, Feminism, Gender Collective Self-Esteem, and Reactance Against Abortion Bans

Recently imposed reproductive rights restrictions have triggered widespread pro-choice protests in countries like Poland and the U.S. This study, conducted online in Poland following the 22 October 2020 decision of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to strengthen restrictions on legal access to abortion, investigated the motivations of 939 Poles (55% women) to participate in pro-choice protests. We examined how different aspects of gender collective self-esteem and feminist identification were associated with reactance to the freedom restrictions imposed by the abortion ban and with engagement in pro-choice protests among women and men. We found that for both genders, weaker gender identification was associated with higher feminist identification, greater reactance to the abortion ban, and increased involvement in pro-choice protests. However, we observed gender differences in the motivations to participate. Women who perceived themselves as valued members of their gender group, had negative personal views about their gender or felt their gender was undervalued by society, were more likely to engage in pro-choice activism. Men who held negative personal views about their gender or felt their gender was valued by society were more likely to engage in pro-choice protests. This study adds novel predictors to the literature on engagement in pro-choice collective action, offering practical insights into which aspects of gender collective self-esteem should be targeted to enhance feminist identification and support for the pro-choice movement.

Young people’s trust in institutions, civic knowledge and their dispositions toward civic engagement

Recent years have witnessed signs of increasing political instability in democratic countries as well as growing alienation from civic institutions and processes among citizens, especially among young people. Within the context of civic and citizenship education, it is important to review such phenomena and study their extent among young people as well as the factors that have the potential of promoting different forms of citizenship engagement. Using data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016 and 2009, this article provides insights into the expectations of young people to actively engage as citizens in the future and what influences these expectations, with a primary focus on the role of civic knowledge and trust in civic institutions.Results from ICCS 2009 and 2016 show that while large majorities among young people expected to vote in elections, only relatively few found it likely to be more actively involved in political action. Except for engagement in illegal protest, young people’s expected participation in general appeared to be positively related to trust. However, associations with civic knowledge were more differentiated. Trust and civic knowledge tended to have negative correlations in countries with higher levels of perceived corruption, while a different association became apparent in democracies with more transparent institutions. Civic knowledge was consistently positively related to anticipated voting while it was negatively related to expected illegal protest. More knowledgeable students were also less inclined to consider active (conventional) forms of political participation in the future.

Securing Moral Authority: A Cross-National Analysis of Protestant Engagement in the Implementation of Morality Policies in Western Europe

Churches have a hard time defending their moral values in the political sphere of an ever more secular and liberal Western Europe. A largely neglected means of navigating this crisis is through the Church’s role as a charitable provider during the implementation of morality policies. This paper examines this type of church involvement from a cross-national and cross-sectoral perspective. We describe the activities of Protestant churches in four morality policy areas in three European countries: Germany, England, and Denmark. The variation in religious engagement observed in these areas and countries appear to be driven by the churches’ room to maneuver and their policy congruence with state goals, whereas governance capacities are secondary. Thus, the provision of social services can still serve as a means by which Protestant churches can exert moral authority, especially if these social services are related to moral issues.

“I’ll be the first one on the street to protest against the lockdown”: Economic grievances and antilockdown protests during the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income countries

In the current research, we examined the association between perceived economic grievances and both intentions to engage and actual engagement in antilockdown protests during the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income countries. We also investigated whether this direct association would be (a) mediated by social identification with the economically disadvantaged and (b) moderated by fatalistic beliefs about the pandemic. In Study 1, multilevel modelling based on online search data from the US ( N = 505) indicated that weekly fluctuations in searches related to economic grievances predicted the occurrence of antilockdown protests over time. In Studies 2 (Germany; N = 404) and 3 (Italy; N = 1,857), we showed that the link between perceived economic grievances and intentions to engage in antilockdown collective action was significantly mediated by social identification with people who suffered economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2 and extended it by showing the role of high (vs. low) fatalistic beliefs about the pandemic in moderating the association between perceived economic grievances and antilockdown collective action intentions. We discuss the consequences of unaddressed economic grievances for democratic functioning.

Social media in black lives matter movement: amplifying or reducing gaps in protest participation?

ABSTRACT This study explores the role of social media in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement by examining how social media news use impacts BLM protest action. Theoretically, we go beyond the frequently discussed relationship between social media and protest participation and examine how grievances, political efficacy, and racial identity conditionally impact the influence of social media on protest engagement. The findings suggest that social media news use amplifies, rather than reduces, the gaps between engaged and disengaged citizens regarding protest participation, particularly in the online sphere. These indicate that social media is not an equalizing tool for BLM participation.

Emotions and climate strike participation among young and old demonstrators

ABSTRACT Research shows that anger triggers participation in social movements, while fear inhibits action. Therefore, fear is less likely to contribute to citizens’ engagement in protest. However, in the case of climate change, fear may play a distinct role and thus contribute to participation. Given the long-term consequences of climate change, we argue that it triggers different emotions across disparate age groups. We investigate the extent to which young, adult, and senior climate strikers experience fear and anger in relation to climate change. Furthermore, we analyze the contribution of these emotions to younger and older citizens’ motivation to demonstrate. Using a unique dataset collected among climate strike demonstrators in eleven cities around the world in September 2019, we examine the importance of anger and fear in explaining motivations to take part in the demonstration – to pressure politicians or to defend one’s interests. Overall, we find that protesters aged above 60 years old are less likely to fear climate change but are more likely to feel anger in relation to this issue than younger generations. On the other hand, those aged below 35 report the highest levels of fear in relation to climate change and are significantly less angry than senior citizens. In all age groups, both anger and fear are associated with motivation to defend one’s interest and to pressure politicians.

The limits of shame: UN shaming, NGO repression, and women's protests

Within the human rights literature, a growing number of studies have focused on the factors that explain engagement in protests. Most prior studies of this type give little or no consideration to the effect of these factors on gender. Recently, though, some scholars have begun focusing on the gender dimension, exploring why women engage in protests specifically. In this study, we examine a previously unexplored factor, that of naming and shaming by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and its effect on the likelihood of women's protest activities. We argue that UNHRC shaming increases the likelihood of women engaging in protests. Moreover, given its preeminent position within the UN, UNHRC shaming should be much more effective in mobilizing women in comparison with shaming by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, in countries where governments actively repress NGOs, the effect of UNHRC shaming on women's protests should be smaller.

Reorienting English Protestantism

This special issue seeks to expand the intellectual landscape of English Protestantism over the course of its long Reformation from the early sixteenth through the late seventeenth centuries. England's protracted conflict over its Protestant identity encouraged the diversification of its orientations to sacred texts and religious traditions, stretching it beyond western Europe to the eastern Mediterranean world. The essays examine English Protestant engagement with Hellenic, Hebraic, and Arabic sources and traditions within a wider context than typically explored in existing narratives. They illustrate how English Protestant scholarship reinforced stereotypes, while also prompting self-reflection and inspiring the reconstruction of England's own traditions and cultural assumptions. Expanding English ecclesiastical, theological, exegetical, philological, and cultural interests, the volume calls for a more fluid and “connected history” to understand the full scope of English Reformation thought and its engagement with non-Western churches and traditions.

Examining the Role of Online Uncivil Discussion and Ideological Extremity on Illegal Protest

In recent years, there has been an increased academic interest revolving around the beneficial or pernicious effects of ideological extremity and (uncivil) political discussion over democracy. For instance, citizens’ ideological predispositions and higher levels of political discussion have been linked with a more active and vibrant political life. In fact, ideological extremity and uncivil discussion foster institutionalized political engagement. However, less explored in the literature remains whether such polarization and uncivil discussions may be related to unlawful political behavior such as illegal protest. This study contends that one of the main drivers of illegal protest behavior lies in online uncivil political discussion, specifically through the normalization and activation of further incivility. We tested this through a two-wave panel data drawn from a diverse US sample and cross-sectional, lagged, and autoregressive regression models. Mediation analysis was also conducted to test whether uncivil online discussion mediated the relationship between frequency of online political discussion and illegal protest engagement. Overall, we found that illegal protest was particularly associated with online uncivil discussion, while ideological extremity and other forms of online and offline discussions seemed to have no effect on unlawful protest over time.

Military legitimacy question in democratic transitions of Zimbabwe and Algeria

Nation-building is intertwined with certain political agency interactions in conflict-prone regions of the world. Within these conflagrations comes the question of legitimacy in transition processes. It is more so when the military is the main actor. The military variable in these processes, and civilians in the uprisings that led to the fall of the long-term leaders of Zimbabwe and Algeria highlight the vulnerability of the state in search of a sustainable nation-state. The problem under assessment in this paper is interwoven with the following questions: why is the military institution a challenge to democracy or civil rule in both countries (by extension Africa)? Could military coups be associated with civilian misrule? Could it be a case of poor civilian-military relationship? All these questions remain a sub to the question of military legitimacy in Democratic transitions of both countries and by extension Africa. The political leaderships in Zimbabwe and Algeria claim to draw their political legitimacy from the liberation histories of their countries that make them a stakeholder in democratic processes. The establishment of this claim to legitimacy remains a question when viewed from the prism of mass engagement in protest and uprisings. The conclusion here is that the two countries were similar in terms of their prevailing situations and have compromised efforts to legitimize governments in both countries. This paper employs the comparative content analysis of the relations between the military and the civilians in the two countries. It relies on the qualitative research approach and the desk research methodology which are effective in analyzing electronic and non-electronic documentary evidence. The paper recommends that the mechanism that guarantees the restriction of the military to their traditional assignment of defending the state and dissuading them from intruding into politics needs to be instituted in both countries.

Anti-Corruption Mobilisation in Siberia: The Role of Universities

Universities have long been seen as hotbeds of student activism. Yet institutions of higher education differ in their capacity to serve as mobilising structures. This study argues that history of activism, quality of education and local political climate influence a university’s potential to foster student protest engagement. Using a case study approach, the essay traces how a configuration of structural and cultural factors at three universities in western Siberia shaped Russian students’ involvement in the 2017 anti-corruption protests. At the same time, it demonstrates how universities in contemporary Russia are used as an instrument of authoritarian control to suppress anti-regime mobilisation.

Political Context and Political Participation Across the Lifespan in Africa

Gerontologists have long documented how age is associated with political participation. However, few studies have considered how macrocontextual factors shape participation across the life span. Moreover, very few studies have dealt with political engagement and aging in emerging democracies, including those in Africa. This study addresses those gaps, integrating the most recent three waves of Afrobarometer survey data (2011–2018) with country-level data from the freedom house (i.e. freedom index). Findings reveal that, at the individual level, an age gap widens for engagement in protests and shrinks for electoral and non-electoral political participation. When the political context is considered, however, we find that political freedom softens the drop-off of protest behavior at later ages. For electoral and non-electoral political participation, we find that freer countries lessen the expected growth in engagement across the life span. The study implies that political oppression shapes the links between age and political behaviour, but the processes seem different depending on whether they are engaging in risky (where the age gap widens) or non-risky (where the age gap shrinks) political forms of engagement.

‘I am tired of being afraid’: Emotions and protest participation in Belarus

Belarus witnessed a staggering level of mass mobilization in the aftermath of the 2020 fraudulent election and disproportionate use of police force against peaceful protesters. Using the case of anti-government protests in Belarus, this article argues that a confluence of moral and reflex emotions explains an incredibly high level of protest participation in a hard autocracy. Specifically, indignation over the magnitude of electoral malpractices and the intensity of police violence, in congruence with the loss of fear, provides a moral battery for generating and sustaining mass mobilization. It is further argued that a sense of unity within the protest movement mitigates fear of repression and facilitates sustained engagement in protests. Drawing on media reports and protesters’ narratives, the study traces how citizens overcame their fear of state reprisal and took to the street. The article contributes to contentious politics literature by elucidating the role of emotions in shaping mass mobilization.

Why Do People Engage in Unlawful Political Protest? Examining the Role of Authoritarianism in Illegal Protest Behavior

Prior research on individual-level drivers of protest has primarily focused on legal protest. However, less is known about what makes people engage in unlawful protest activities. Building upon previous literature on the collective action dilemma, socialization on violent and high-risk social movements, and political psychology, we expect that illegal protest frequency varies at different levels of authoritarianism. We explore the relationship between authoritarian values and illegal protest by analyzing a two-wave panel survey data gathered in the US. The results of cross-sectional, lagged, and autoregressive ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models show that when controlling for legal protest and other relevant variables in protest behavior, authoritarianism predicts illegal protest following an inverted U-shaped relationship. In other words, average levels of authoritarianism predict more frequent engagement in illegal protest, while this frequency decreases as approaching the poles of the authoritarianism scale.

Protest Structures: Responses From Nigerians in the United States to Police Brutality and #BlackLivesMatter Protests

This study examined how Nigerian immigrants communicated about, and got involved in, #BlackLivesMatter protests and/or advocacy due to racialized violence against Blacks in the United States during the summer of 2020. Using a qualitative open-ended questionnaire, a purposive sample of Nigerians ( N = 70) was assembled. Constant comparative analysis revealed that communication about and participation in the BLM movement consisted of affective (feelings associated with protests), cognitive (psychological processes triggered by thinking about protests), and behavioral (actions and engagement in protests) responses. This process is labeled protest structures, a term that captures the socio-psychological processes that shape the communication of and involvement in protests and/or advocacy. We discuss further how social positioning impacts active participation in the fight for racial equality and social change.

Assessing Muslim women’s power: Islamism, political engagement, and the gender gap

AbstractWhat explains the gender gap in collective political activism in the Muslims world? Under what conditions do Muslim women actively engage in mass political activism? Utilizing the World Values Survey (2010–2012; n = 19,616) and shifting the theoretical focus on the largely ignored meso‐level of analysis of organizational effects, this study conducts a two‐level analysis to (1) chart and reassess the gender gap and (2) analyze the extent to which the gender gap shapes collective political activism in 16 Muslim‐majority states. It probes the variation of protest engagement of women at individual, institutional, and state levels. Our findings suggest that while men appear more likely, on average, to engage in collective action, women with high associational social capital appear more likely than women and men without such capital to embark on collective protests in Muslim‐majority states. Notably, active engagement in civil society social networks emerges as a robust predictor of political engagement, suggesting that associational social capital remains an important factor of motivation and vehicle for mass political activism, particularly among Muslim women.

The Welfare State Upholders: Protests Against Cuts in Sickness Benefits in Sweden 2006–2019

The power resource approach (PRA) claims that the labour movement continues to be the most prominent defender of the welfare state. The new politics thesis (NPT), on the other hand, claims that the welfare state has created new interest groups in the form of welfare clients who have taken over as the most prominent welfare state upholders. In an attempt to empirically evaluate these claims, we present a study of the extent to which clients and the labour movement have been involved in protests against cutbacks in the Swedish sickness benefit from 2006 to 2019. The article contributes to the welfare state literature by studying a most likely case for PRA‐style interest group mobilization both in terms of country (Sweden) and policy area (sickness insurance). It also tests the claim from PRA scholars that client interests are uncommon in these contexts. Our results show that protest engagement among client groups is greater than the engagement among the labour movement when looking at protests directed specifically against cuts in the sickness benefit programme. However, when broader protests against cutbacks in several transfer programmes are taken into account, the number of protests initiated by clients and by the labour movement is comparable. Overall, our results suggest that both the PRA and the NPT are needed to explain current developments in social democratic welfare states like Sweden.

Intergroup images mediate the relationships between government abuse, sociopolitical orientations, and political action

ABSTRACT What factors impact how people mobilize against state human rights abuses? Drawing on Image Theory, we examine how perceptions of an out-group, government abuse, and sociopolitical orientations impact political action. Using an online survey-embedded experiment with a sample of 2,932 U.S. adults, we manipulated two factors: (1) the level of government abuse and (2) the risk of punishment for taking action against the state, while also including social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) as covariates. Participants indicated their propensity to engage in and justify both protest and violence. Participants rated the out-group as oppressive and evil. State abuse of human rights was associated with more oppressive and evil out-group images. Oppressive out-group images increased protest engagement and justification, whereas evil out-group images increased violence engagement and justification. Abuse increased all forms of action and justifications for them. Oppressive and evil images mediated many of the relationships between abuse, SDO, and RWA on one hand and political action on the other.

Variety of groups and protests in repressive contexts: The 2011 Egyptian uprisings and their aftermath

This article examines the role of various social groups in shaping protests in repressive contexts. The empirical study focuses on the Egyptian uprisings that started in January 2011. The authors use data collected through semi-structured interviews undertaken between 2011 and 2015 with 58 individuals who had all participated in such protests and who were members of various types of organizations. The results show that, in contrast to the arguments highlighting the spontaneous, internet-based nature of the protests that occurred in 2011 in the MENA region, individuals’ membership in organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and in more informal groups such as Popular Committees or independent trade unions have been crucial for their engagement in protests. The findings also highlight the flexible and dynamic form of organizations active in repressive contexts, which are capable of reacting and adapting easily to a changing context.

“Networked” Revolutions? ICTs and Protest Mobilization in Non-Democratic Regimes

Despite the wealth of research linking Internet-based communication technologies (ICTs) with the rise of anti-government demonstrations in non-democracies, empirical evidence on the impact of ICTs on protest remains inconclusive. Using data from the sixth-wave of the World Values Survey (WVS), I test the relationship between ICT use and protest in non-democracies, finding that although Internet use helps to explain protest participation, organizational networks remain crucial for mobilizing protesters, even in the digital age. Notably, I find that active membership in formal organizations (i.e., attending meetings, holding leadership positions, etc.) significantly increases the likelihood of individual protest participation, providing members with the skills necessary for political engagement and connections to a sustained flow of information about protest events. Most important, I find significant interactive effects between organizational membership and ICT use—while Internet use increases the likelihood of protest engagement for all individuals, the effects of ICT use are greatest for multiply-engaged citizens who are actively involved in both online and offline organizational networks. This work thus illuminates a largely overlooked symbiosis between online and offline communities and forces a reconsideration of the ways in which organizations work to mobilize contention under authoritarian rule.