Incidence Of Protest Research Articles

Lockdown and Unrest: Inequality, Restrictions and Protests During COVID-19

This paper analyses how pre-pandemic levels of inequality across US counties have shaped the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of protests. The results from difference-in-differences and instrumental variable models using high-frequency weekly data show that more stringent measures to contain the pandemic increased the incidence of protests, but only in US counties with high levels of inequality before the start of the pandemic where grievances may have been initially stronger. The impact of government responses to COVID-19 on protests is largely explained by adverse changes in economic conditions in counties with the highest levels of pre-pandemic inequality. Policy stringency measures were also associated with more protests in the most unequal counties which voted for the Republican party in the 2016 elections and exhibited, at the start of the pandemic, lower levels of trust in the president and lower satisfaction with democracy.

Challenges and way forward for implementation of sugar taxation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Over consumption of added sugar beyond the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level of 10% of daily energy intake has well-established negative health consequences including oral diseases. However, the average consumption of added sugar in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA-World Bank's regional classification) is 70% higher than the WHO recommended level. Imposing taxes on added sugar has been proposed by the WHO to decrease its consumption. Yet, only 21.6% of the total MENA population are covered by taxation policies targeting added sugar. Well-recognized challenges for the implementation of sugar taxation in MENA include the tactics used by the food and beverage industry to block these type of policies. However, there are also other unfamiliar hurdles specific to MENA. Historically, there have been incidents of protest and riots partially sparked by increased price of basic commodities, including sugar, in MENA countries. This may affect the readiness of policy makers in the region to impose added sugar taxes. In addition, there are also cultural, lifestyle and consumption behavioural barriers to implementing added sugar taxation. Ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened-beverages (SSBs) rich in added sugar are perceived by many in MENA as essential treats regardless of their health risks. Furthermore, some countries even provide subsidies for added sugar. Also, (oral) healthcare providers generally do not engage in policy advocacy mainly due to limited training on health policy. Here, we discuss these challenges and suggest some ways forward such as (1) support from a health-oriented political leadership, (2) raising public awareness about the health risks of over consumption of sugar, (3) transparency during the policy-cycle development process, (4) providing a free and safe environment for a community dialogue around the proposed policy, (5) training of (oral) healthcare professionals on science communication and policy advocacy in local lay language/dialect, ideally evidence informed from local/regional studies, (6) selecting the appropriate political window of opportunity to introduce a sugar tax policy, and (7) clear and strict conflict of interest regulations to limit the influence of commercial players on health policy.

The Demographic Change In Assam: A Legal Perspective

The distinct and shared demography of Assam, makes the land of Brahmaputra and Barak valley, a unique one among the celebrated seven sisters of North east India. With the 15.09 million Assamese speaking and 6-7.5 million Bengali speaking people among others, the population count is about 3.09 crores. Throughout the passage of time, change in the numbers of people brought a grave concern leading to the signing of the historic ‘Assam Accord’ and amendment of the citizenship act 1955.The rate of population rolled up to 24.2% in 1991, 18.9% in 2001 and 17.1% in 2011 respectively. Land, language, culture, a matter of pride for the indigenous people of Assam is too upheld by the Convention for Indigenous and Tribal peoples,1989. The recent NRC up-dation under the supervision of the supreme court has given some relief until the sudden introduction of the citizenship amendment act,2019 and legalizing the foreigners unleashing the aspect of xenophobia causing series of violence and difference among the valleys. This paper shall endeavor to learn about the demography of Assam and the changes in course of time. It shall too focus on the relationship between the section 6(A) of the citizenship (amendment) act 1955, Assam accord and rules of NRC up-dation along with visiting the International covenants and constitution of India. The paper will also touch upon various incidents of protest and clashes to preserve identity and recommendations thereof.

Drivers of COVID-19 protest across localities in Israel: a machine-learning approach

ABSTRACT Anti-government protests emerged globally in response to COVID-19 countermeasures. What are the key drivers of these pandemic-related protests, and to what extent do they differ from the drivers of non-COVID protests? We examine these questions in the context of Israel, which faced a growing political crisis at the start of the pandemic, effectively blurring the distinction between different causes of protest. Our data features 1,922 protests across 189 Israeli localities for the period between March and July 2022. Using a machine learning approach, we find that all protests, regardless of whether they were directly related to the pandemic or not, were motivated by the same set of key indicators – albeit with the ranking of drivers for COVID-related protests inverted for non-COVID protests. Local infection rates and government responses were more pronounced for the former, whereas differences in residential and commercial property taxes, access to affordable housing, quality of education and demography were among the most important drivers for the latter. Our analysis underscores the role that local governments played in managing the pandemic, and demonstrates that variation in socioeconomic conditions had an important effect on the incidence of protests across Israel.

Effecting successful shared value creation: The role of organisations in fence-line communities

Purpose: Society’s expectations of business are said to be increasing, with business expected to play an influential role from a triple bottom line perspective. Shared value creation is a new, emerging theme in the literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The stagnating South African economy, the increasing incidence of protests against community conditions and the increased expectations of stakeholders for business frame the study.Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative research study aimed to gain insight into how shared value creation could be effected in a developing country. Additionally, it provided insights into the reason for the nature of the expectations, the approach in effecting shared value creation, and the benefits that could be realised by employing this business model.Findings/results: The study found that shared value creation can be effected successfully through a partnership between government, business and communities together with strong inter-stakeholder. Measurement of outcomes and feedback to the various stakeholders will strengthen relationships with employees and fence-line communities and lead to improved business performance. Benefits were identified as improved social capital, reduced dependency on companies and a sustainable business.Practical implications: This concept proposes an approach to social responsibility that will enhance the competitive advantage of the firm and is presented as strategic CSR. Numerous literary contributions have criticised the concept for being too vague in its approach and for being built on western world principles.Originality/value: Understanding the role of institutions (or lack thereof) in ecosystems and the networks that are established and required was considered important in furthering the operationalising of social responsibility concepts such as shared value creation.

Oil price shocks, protest, and the shadow economy: Is there a mitigation effect?

AbstractIn this study, we look at how oil price shocks affect the incidence of protests in a country and how the size of a country's shadow economy influences this relationship. Using panel data from 144 countries, from the period of 1991–2015, we find evidence that negative oil price shocks significantly increase protests in countries with small shadow economies. The effect dissipates as the size of the shadow economy increases and eventually vanishes in countries with a shadow economy representing more than 35% of gross domestic product. Our analysis departs from existing literature by emphasizing the moderating role of a shadow economy on the effects of negative oil shocks on the incidence of protests in oil‐dependent economies. The results are robust to various specifications and their broader implications are discussed.

A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany

This paper studies costly political resistance in a non-democracy. When Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, 40% of the designated Soviet occupation zone was initially captured by the western Allied Expeditionary Force. This occupation was short-lived: Soviet forces took over after less than two months and installed an authoritarian regime in what became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We exploit the idiosyncratic line of contact separating Allied and Soviet troops within the GDR to show that areas briefly under Allied occupation had higher incidence of protests during the only major episode of political unrest in the GDR before its demise in 1989 - the East German Uprising of 1953. These areas also exhibited lower regime support during the last free elections in 1946. We argue that even a “glimpse of freedom can foster civilian opposition to dictatorship.

Cluster Around Latent Variable for Vulnerability Towards Natural Hazards, Non-Natural Hazards, Social Hazards in West Papua

The diagnosis of a hazard can be classified into three key domains, particularly regarding the natural hazards, non-natural hazards and social hazards. The disasters which have actually happened in West Papua require considerable attention and consideration of the Indonesian Government, despite since they have handled as much as they can to provide solutions and make people feel secure and pleasant. The purpose of this study is to calculate the location-based social vulnerability in West Papua involves the components of Information, Technology, and Communication, Food Access, Natural Disaster, Social Protection Statement, Access to Financial Services, Description of the source of household income, Number of event floods, number of earthquake disasters, COVID-19 death cases, and Number of incidents of protest which are obtained from the National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) official statistics with the main focus of research on the millennial generation. After employ clustering of variables around latent variables with connectivity value of 3.9400794, Dunn 0.9373, and Silhouette 0.6333. Each factor provide a sign indicating a positive or negative effect on social vulnerability and finally a location cluster will be formed based on the index obtained.

A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany

This paper studies costly political resistance in a non-democracy. When Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, 40% of the designated Soviet occupation zone was initially captured by the western Allied Expeditionary Force. This occupation was short-lived: Soviet forces took over after less than two months and installed an authoritarian regime in what became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We exploit the idiosyncratic line of contact separating Allied and Soviet troops within the GDR to show that areas briefly under Allied occupation had higher incidence of protests during the only major episode of political unrest in the GDR before its demise in 1989 - the East German Uprising of 1953. These areas also exhibited lower regime support during the last free elections in 1946. We argue that even a “glimpse of freedom” can foster civilian opposition to dictatorship.

Oil Price Shocks, Protest and the Shadow Economy: Is there a Mitigation Effect?

In this paper, we study the impact of exogenous variations of international oil prices on the incidence of protest, while exploring the role of the shadow economy as a mitigating factor. We find that oil price shocks are negatively associated with protests, but the effect is less severe the higher the initial size of the shadow economy. To explain these results, we show that the size of the shadow economy responds counter-cyclically to oil-price-driven income shocks. In particular, we find that the decline in the GDP per capita growth following a negative oil price shock leads to an increase in the size of the shadow economy. This suggest that the shadow economy’s capacity to absorb persistent oil price fluctuations without provoking political unrest, should regard it as a mitigation tool rather than an economic burden.

Protest Blues: Public opinion on the policing of protest in South Africa

The policing response to rising protest action in the country has received increased attention in the last decade. This is particularly owing to concerns over confrontations during which protesters have been arrested, injured and in some instances killed by the police. Despite the criticism voiced by various stakeholders about the manner in which the police manage crowd gatherings, relatively little is known about the views of South African adults on the policing of protest action and the factors that shape such attitudes. To provide some insight, this article draws on data from a specialised module on protest-related attitudes and behaviour that was fielded as part of the 2016 round of the Human Sciences Research Council’s South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) series. This nationally representative survey included specific questions probing the public’s overall evaluation of the performance of the police in dealing with protests, and the justifiability of the use of force in policing protest action. The article will present a national picture of people’s views on the policing of protest, based on these measures, and then determine the extent to which there are distinct underlying socio-demographic cleavages in these data. A combination of bivariate and multivariate analysis is undertaken in order to understand how perceptions of effectiveness, acceptability and reported participation in protest (especially disruptive and violent actions) shape people’s views regarding policing of protest. The article concludes with a discussion that reflects on the implications of the research for the policing of protest action in future, given the appreciable rise in the incidence of protest since the mid-2000s and the mounting tensions between state institutions and communities over the political, moral and constitutional arguments for and against such actions.

Protest Blues: Public opinion on the policing of protest in South Africa

The policing response to rising protest action in the country has received increased attention in the last decade. This is particularly owing to concerns over confrontations during which protesters have been arrested, injured and in some instances killed by the police. Despite the criticism voiced by various stakeholders about the manner in which the police manage crowd gatherings, relatively little is known about the views of South African adults on the policing of protest action and the factors that shape such attitudes. To provide some insight, this article draws on data from a specialised module on protest-related attitudes and behaviour that was fielded as part of the 2016 round of the Human Sciences Research Council’s South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) series. This nationally representative survey included specific questions probing the public’s overall evaluation of the performance of the police in dealing with protests, and the justifiability of the use of force in policing protest action. The article will present a national picture of people’s views on the policing of protest, based on these measures, and then determine the extent to which there are distinct underlying socio-demographic cleavages in these data. A combination of bivariate and multivariate analysis is undertaken in order to understand how perceptions of effectiveness, acceptability and reported participation in protest (especially disruptive and violent actions) shape people’s views regarding policing of protest. The article concludes with a discussion that reflects on the implications of the research for the policing of protest action in future, given the appreciable rise in the incidence of protest since the mid-2000s and the mounting tensions between state institutions and communities over the political, moral and constitutional arguments for and against such actions.

Legislative Coalition Size and Antigovernment Protests in Latin America

This work examines whether the size, as well as the composition, of legislative coalitions is an additional factor that affects the incidence of protests against national governments in Latin America. Based on aggregate data for 18 democracies from 1980 to 2014, the analysis reveals that the relationship between the size of legislative coalitions in the lower house of national assemblies and the odds of antigovernment protests is U-shaped. Specifically, the odds of antigovernment protests occurring decrease until the president has a coalition comprising 50–55 percent of the national assembly; once this threshold is passed, the odds of protests taking place increase as the coalition grows. This result holds after controlling for the party composition of the governing coalition and other factors previously linked to the occurrence of antigovernment protests. The evidence thus indicates that both minority and supermajority scenarios can be socially destabilizing for Latin American democracies.

Governance, Protest and Sport: An Australian Perspective

Peaceful acts of protest are relatively common in popular Australian sports and entertainment. Traditionally, protest has been regulated through criminal and adjunct summary offences or policing legislation. Trends in corporate governance and state-sponsored event management have significant implications for individual and collective rights of protest at popular domestic and international events. In reviewing prominent incidents of protest and the evolution of public order laws in Victoria and New South Wales, this article highlights the complexity and contradictions underpinning the regulation of protest at major entertainment venues, and examines the impact of recent legislative reforms facilitating professional corporate event management.

Urban geography and protest mobilization in Africa

Urbanization has long been seen by scholars and policymakers as a disruptive process that can contribute to social and political unrest, yet there is little cross-national quantitative empirical research on the topic. In this paper we provide a comprehensive analysis of the links between urban geography and the incidence of protests (i.e. demonstrations, riots and strikes) in African countries since 1990. In contrast to previous studies, we are careful to distinguish between urban population scale effects, urban population ratio effects, population rate-of-change effects and urban population distribution effects. We also provide an explicit test of the long-standing hypothesis that ‘over-urbanization’ increases the risk of civil unrest. Employing multilevel negative binomial models that control for key political and economic variables we find that urban population size and the number of large cities in a country are both positively and significantly associated protest incidence. By contrast, we find that a country's level of urbanization is negatively associated with protest incidence and reject the over-urbanization hypothesis: higher levels of urbanization are associated with less frequent protests at all income levels. We find no evidence that the pace of urban population growth or urban primacy significantly influence protest mobilization. In sum, our results provide a nuanced picture of the relationship between urban geography and protest incidence that challenges conventional wisdom and contemporary hyperbole about the dangers of ‘rapid urbanization’ in Africa in particular, and developing countries more generally.

Legacies of conflict and natural resource resistance in Guatemala

In Guatemala, as elsewhere, protests in opposition to natural resource extraction and land use change often invoke narratives of historical oppression. The paper examines the legacy of the Guatemalan Civil War as manifest in recent protests against metals mining and hydroelectric dam projects. Spatial and multilevel regression modelling was used to identity the determinants of the spatial distribution of protests and of individual participation and support for protest activities. At the community level, the historical legacy of conflict is found to increase the incidence of protest in municipalities affected by metals mining or hydroelectric dam projects. At the individual level, the experience of past conflict appears to increase the rate of participation in protest activity but has no effect on attitudes towards protest in general. Evidence is also found for a joint effect of racial identity and conflict intensity on protest incidence. We conclude that the historical legacy of conflict is an increase in group cohesion along preexisting cultural cleavages that facilitates mobilization in opposition to potentially environmentally destructive projects in affected communities.

Can You Hear Me Now?: How Communication Technology Affects Protest and Repression

Commentators covering recent social movements, such as the Arab Spring, have claimed that cell phones and social media enable collective action. We develop a theoretical model to illustrate why, focusing on two mechanisms: first, by enabling communication among would-be protesters, cell phones lower the costs of coordination; second, these technologies broadcast information about whether a protest is repressed. Knowing that a large audience will now witness, and may be enraged by repression, governments refrain from squashing demonstrators, lowering the cost of protesting. We evaluate the model's predictions using high-resolution global data on the expansion of cell phone coverage and the incidence of protest from 2007-2014. Our difference-in-differences estimates indicate that cell phone coverage increases the probability of protest by two times the mean. Consistent with our second mechanism, we also find that the expansion of coverage reduces the probability of repression.

The Literary Life of Cairo: One Hundred Years in the Heart of the City (review)

Reviewed by: The Literary Life of Cairo: One Hundred Years in the Heart of the City Caroline Seymour-Jorn (bio) The Literary Life of Cairo: One Hundred Years in the Heart of the City, edited by Samia Mehrez Cairo, Egypt: AUC Press, 2011; pp. 433. $39.95 cloth. The Literary Life of Cairo: One Hundred Years in the Heart of the City serves as a companion volume to Mehrez's The Literary Atlas of Cairo (2010). It represents the work of several literary generations as it includes short stories, excerpts from novels, and essays by authors who have lived in and written about Cairo and Egypt. All of the selections are presented in English, with most having been translated from Arabic or French. A few selections were originally written in English. One strength of the book is that it presents not only a range of Cairo's authors but also the work of both well-established and newer translators. The Literary Life of Cairo is divided into seven chapters—each with a separate brief introduction—designed to familiarize the reader with the complex social, economic, ethnic, and political landscape of metropolitan Cairo. The chapter divisions are highly relevant and useful, with titles such as "Going to School in Cairo," "Women in the City," and "Cairo's Drug Culture." By means of these thematic divisions, the editor reveals to the reader the unexpected and many-faceted world of one of the Middle East's most important and influential cities. This volume and that of Mehrez represent an important contribution to the study of Egyptian literature and the Cairene literary world in the English language. This text will be useful for readers who are new to the field of Egyptian or Middle Eastern literature, as it provides a wide-ranging set of representations of Cairene life and society. The section "Women in the City," for example, presents a literary view both of poor and otherwise marginalized women and of much more privileged women, of those living within the borders of the city and even of those Egyptian women living and pursuing higher education abroad. The collection of translations provided here will also benefit more seasoned consumers of Middle Eastern literature, especially because the volume includes several pieces by younger authors, including Miral al-Tahawy, Mona Prince, and Mohamed Salah al-Azab. The section "Icons of the City" includes fiction and essays about some of the city's larger-than-life political and cultural figures, including pieces that illuminate the periods of King Farouk and Gamal Abdel Nasser. Also included is a fascinating selection by Edward Said about his youthful [End Page 148] memories of the dancer Tahia Carioca and her live and film productions. "Cairo Cosmopolitan" features selections that highlight aspects of life in Cairo's ethno-religious communities, including a very short piece from Ihsan Abdel Qaddus's I Am Free about Jews in the once relatively integrated neighborhood of al-Dhaher. Fathy Ghanem's A Girl from Shubra explores the personal geography of an Italian Catholic woman living in the populous area of Shubra, along with her hopes and fears for her own and her daughter's future. "Going to School in Cairo" contains selections that span the historical timeline, from Naguib Mahfouz's early-twentieth-century setting in Palace Walk to Ihab Hassan's memories of his school days in 1930s Cairo, to Miral al-Tahawy's representations of the specific struggles of schoolgirls during the final decades of the twentieth century, which saw the rise of both Muslim fundamentalism and strong capitalist and consumerist orientations. The section "The Street is Ours?" is a particularly fascinating read for anyone following the events of 2011 in Egypt, or the Arab Spring more generally. The section includes literary representations of public protest, arrest, imprisonment, and torture over the span of the twentieth century, from Huda Shaarawi's account of the women's demonstration against the British in 1919 to Alaa al-Aswany's famous representation of a Muslim activist in The Yacoubian Building. These readings echo more recent incidents of protest and demonstration and also serve as a solemn reminder of the long history of government oppression of political activists in...

Collective Action with Uncertain Payoffs: Coordination, Public Signals, and Punishment Dilemmas

How can one analyze collective action in protests or revolutions when individuals are uncertain about the relative payoffs of the status quo and revolution? We model a “calculus of protest” of individuals who must either submit to the status quo or support revolt based only on personal information about their payoffs. In deciding whether to revolt, the citizen must infer both the benefit of successful revolution and the likely actions of other citizens. We characterize conditions under which payoff uncertainty overturns conventional wisdom: (a) when a citizen is too willing to revolt, hereducesthe incentives of others to revolt; (b) less accurate information about the value of revolution can make revoltmorelikely; (c) public signals from other citizens canreducethe likelihood of revolt; (d) harsher punishment canincreasethe incidence of punishment; and (e) the incidence of protest can bepositivelycorrelated with that of repression.

Collective Action with Uncertain Payoffs: Coordination, Public Signals and Punishment Dilemmas

We provide a framework for analyzing collective action in contentious contexts such as protests or revolutions when individuals are uncertain about the relative payoffs of the status quo and revolution. We model the calculus of of individuals who must decide whether to submit to the status quo or revolt based on personal information about their payo ffs. When deciding whether to revolt, a citizen must infer both the value of successful revolution and the likely actions of other citizens. We characterize the conditions under which payoff uncertainty overturns conventional wisdom: (a) when a citizen is too willing to revolt, he reduces the incentives of others to revolt; (b) less accurate information about the value of revolution can make revolt more likely; (c) public signals can reduce the likelihood of revolt; (d) harsher punishment can increase the incidence of punishment; and (e) the incidence of protest can be positively correlated with that of repression.