Protest Activity Research Articles

Political tolerance and the golden rule: Reciprocity increases acceptance of normative protest actions of disliked groups

AbstractThe golden rule is a widespread moral guide for preventing conflict across cultures and religions, and reciprocity is foundational to political tolerance. This raises the question of whether the golden rule has an impact on one's willingness to tolerate political protest actions of disliked ideological groups. In the current research, we examined whether making salient golden rule reciprocity impacts on political tolerance of one's least‐liked groups. Data from two experiments (N = 950) revealed that participants who watched a 3‐min video highlighting the golden rule showed significantly more tolerance of normative protest actions of their least‐liked group relative to watching a control video. By contrast, the golden rule video had no significant impact on tolerance of non‐normative protest actions of one's least‐liked group. Additionally, the golden rule video had no impact on one's attitudes or willingness to engage in contact with the least‐liked group indicating that increased political tolerance of normative protest actions was not due to changing attitudes towards the least‐liked group. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that reminders of the principle of reciprocity and the golden rule can increase political tolerance with benefits for liberal democracy. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Executive compliance with parliamentary powers under authoritarianism: Evidence from Jordan

AbstractWhen are executives in authoritarian regimes more likely to comply with formal legislative powers? Building from theories of authoritarian power‐sharing, we argue that executives will be more likely to respect legislative prerogatives when protests or elite organization increase the ability of legislators to undermine the executive's political position. We evaluate this argument by analyzing novel protest and legislative data in Jordan between 2010 and 2015. In line with our expectations, we find that parliamentary queries were more likely to receive the required response from the cabinet during months of higher protest activity and when they were submitted by MPs from Jordan's only well‐organized opposition bloc in the parliament. This study extends the burgeoning scholarship on authoritarian legislatures by contributing to understanding of executive‐legislative interactions under autocracy and providing new insights into the conditions under which these legislatures are more likely to influence decision‐making processes.

THE APPLICATION OF DERIVATIVE MISCONDUCT IN THE WORKPLACE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa obo Nganezi v Dunlop Mixing and Technical Services (Pty) Limited 2019 (5) SA 354 (CC)

In modern South African law, employees have several fundamental rights, the right to strike being one of those rights. This right is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) and also in the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (the LRA); both statutes provide that every employee has the right to strike (s 64(1) of the LRA and s 23(2)(c) of the Constitution). However, for a strike to be protected as legal strike action, at least 48 hours’ notice of the commencement of the strike must be given, in writing, to the employer (s 64(1)(b) of the LRA). If employees misconduct themselves – for example, engage in acts of violence during a protected strike – the employer is entitled to dismiss those employees on the grounds of misconduct (Schedule 8, item 7 of the Code of Good Practice under the LRA). However, if the employer is unable to identify the responsible employees (the perpetrators), the question is whether the employer can request other employees to identify the perpetrators. If the answer to this is yes, the next question is whether the employer can dismiss these employees if the employees do not want to identify the “perpetrators”.To answer these questions, employers have relied on the principle of “derivative misconduct” to discipline employees during strike action where employees responsible for misconduct cannot be identified and other employees fail, when requested, to come forward and assist the employer to identify those responsible. Derivative misconduct is a principle that is neither defined nor appears in any labour legislation. It has been developed by the courts and used by employers as a concept to require an employee to come forward and give information about other employees who have misconducted themselves during protest action. Since derivative misconduct is not defined in labour legislation, a consideration of the judgments that have considered the scope and application of this principle on a particular set of facts demonstrates the difficulties of its application. Before the Constitutional Court judgment in NUMSA obo Khanyile Nganezi v Dunlop Mixing and Technical Services (Pty) Ltd (2019 (5) SA 354 (CC)), several judgments attempting to develop or clarify the concept either found derivative misconduct did not exist on the particular facts or just expressed obiter views on the issue. This led to varying decisions on the application of derivative misconduct. The Constitutional Court has now finally sought to articulate and grapple with this concept.

Marginalized, but not demobilized: Ethnic minority protest activity when facing discrimination.

In a context of backlash against diversity in many countries, we know little about how ethnic minorities respond politically when they personally experience discrimination. Moving beyond the study of electoral participation, this research investigates whether experiences of discrimination push ethnic minorities toward an alternate political pathway for those who feel sidelined by the political community: protest activity. The study also examines whether the context of discrimination (i.e. public or private sphere) has different consequences for protest participation, and whether intragroup contact enhances the effects of discrimination on protest participation. Relying on a survey of 1647 respondents from racialized backgrounds in Canada, our findings indicate that discriminatory experiences increase participation in protest activities irrespective of its context, and that the positive relationship between discriminatory experiences and protest activity is stronger among respondents with greater intragroup contact.

THE POTENTIAL OF TWITTER IMAGES FOR GALVANIZING CITIZENS TO COLLECTIVE ACTION

This experiment explored the mobilizing potential of image-only tweets about Black Lives Matter protests compared to text-only tweets to stimulate collective action among Caucasians. A 2 (tweet modality: image vs. textual) x 3 (tweet content type: anger-evoking, efficacy-eliciting, neutral), between-subjects design was employed with collective action intent as the dependent variable. Contrary to expectation, the results produced no evidence that image-based tweets are more effective than text-based ones, or that emotional content is better than non-emotional content, at motivating citizens to become politically engaged. Anger-evoking, image-based protest tweets were only marginally more galvanizing among Caucasians than non-anger evoking image-based tweets. However, the results showed that efficacy-eliciting textual tweets stoked greater intention to participate than efficacy-eliciting image tweets. Furthermore, men, more than women, were more inclined to get involved in social protests after viewing anger-evoking images. Women, on the other hand were more inspired to take protest action than men after exposure to efficacy-eliciting images.

Гватемала: революционные события 2015–2017 гг.

Over the past decade, Guatemala has experienced far from the calmest times in its history: in 2015, amid corruption scandals, a series of protests began in the country, leading to the resignation of the then incumbent president and vice-president. In 2017, the country’s next president faced protest activity. This civic activity has been particularly strong among young people and has gradually taken shape since the civil war, which ended in 1996.

Populism and Protest Intensity: A Cross-National Analysis

Populist studies are increasingly interested in the effects that populism has on the politics of contemporary democratic systems. This article analyzes the relationship between populist parties and politicians and the intensity of political protest. Arguing that populists generate feelings of anger and outrage at establishment politicians, develop close relationships with social movements, and instigate further polarization and resistance from the opposition, the existence of populist actors in a political system is believed to generate more political protests. Using a unique dataset of populist parties in European, Latin American, and North American countries, cross-national testing demonstrates strong positive correlations between the presence of populists in power and anti-government demonstrations, testifying to the effect that populists have on protest activity. Tests for the existence of populist parties in the opposition, however, reveal no empirical support for increased levels of political protest, implying that the strongest effect only comes once populists come to power. These results provide necessary nuance to our understanding of the destabilizing effects of populism and its consequences for contemporary liberal democracies.

Governance capture and socio-environmental conflict: a critical political economy of the global mining industry’s prior consultation regime

Prior consultation purports to mitigate socio-environmental conflict risks by creating deliberative and democratic spaces for local communities to influence decisions over newly proposed mining projects. Yet, many contest state and corporate claims to fair and inclusive decision-making, insisting that mines are often approved in violation of their human rights. Using a critical political economy of environmental governance approach, we analyze the multilevel governance regime which informs the practice of prior consultation within the global mining industry. We argue that this regime has become ‘captured’ by mining interests, as evidenced by the ‘market-enabling’ procedures which restrict communities’ capacity to exercise self-determination. Furthermore, we suggest that this leaves some local groups with little choice but to engage in risky protest action to express opposition. We utilize the Brazilian and Peruvian mining sectors as illustrative vignettes, for which data were collected from extensive fieldwork in both countries.

Anger, Fear, and the Racialization of News Media Coverage of Protest Activity

AbstractBlack Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, and the Tea Party are among the many movements that have reignited media attention to protest activity. Yet, there is much to learn about what this media coverage conveys. In particular, how much does who is protesting matter for how the media portray protesters and their objectives? In this paper, we draw on an extensive content analysis of cable and broadcast news media coverage of protest activities to demonstrate substantial differences in how protests are covered depending on the race and objective of the protesters. We find that media are much more likely to depict protests by people of color using language that evokes a sense of threat by using anger- and fear-laden language than comparable coverage of protest activity involving mostly White individuals. Our results demonstrate that racial biases in news coverage are much broader than previously thought. In doing so, our work highlights the powerful role that a protester’s race plays in whether the media will condone or challenge their political voice.

Social protest action, stakeholder management, and risk: Managing the impact of service delivery protests in South Africa

AbstractStakeholder management is an important method for reducing business risk. Recent decades have seen the growth of a new type of stakeholder: social protest stakeholders, individuals engaging in protest action which is directed at other unrelated parties, often the government. However, the actions of social protest stakeholders may negatively affect companies located nearby. This stakeholder category has not received any formal attention in the literature, and this article addresses the knowledge gap by exploring the effects of community‐driven protest action in South Africa and the strategies that firms adopt to mitigate the negative consequences of such protests. A multiple case study analysis was used to describe this type of stakeholder group and the management of the consequences of social protest action. Eight manufacturing companies in the Gauteng province participated in the study, the companies varied in size and industry. Among the key findings are that companies need to be highly adaptable if they are to mitigate the impact of protest action. We make practical suggestions about how companies may manage these risks, including the recommendation that companies engage more directly with social protestors to manage risks. The study makes an important contribution to the literature by identifying an additional key category of stakeholder and proposing a risk management approach to avert or minimize loss and damage.

Voting and protest tendencies associated with changes in service delivery

ABSTRACT Existing literature highlights the complexities of the relationship between voting, protest action and service delivery within Southern African democracies. We explore the relationship between these variables for South Africa by generating a new dataset from various sources. Although this relationship has been explored before, the existing evidence is mixed. The results from this study therefore bring a fresh perspective, especially at a time during which the political power of the incumbent African National Congress has been declining. We find that improvements in service delivery are not significantly associated with an increase in votes for the incumbent party, indicating that accountability is not the main motivation for South Africans’ voting decisions. However, we find a statistically significant negative correlation between protest action and service delivery, providing evidence of the increasing importance of protest action as a form of political accountability in South Africa.

CATALOGING PROTEST: NEWSPAPERS, NEXIS UNI, OR TWITTER?*

What is the best source for tracking protest activity? Newspaper sources remain dominant, but other options are tempting. This article compares three differently sourced catalogs of protest events in Toronto from July 15 to September 15, 2020. The widely discussed Movement for Black Lives and housing justice cycles of protest are visible in all three catalogs, but apart from this, the field of protest they reveal is very different. While the coverage by the newspaper with the largest circulation, the Toronto Star, shows Toronto protest as state-centered, domestic, and progressive, other catalogs that include television, radio, and social media content reveal a more diverse, fragmented, and globalized protest field. Catalogs sourced from Nexis Uni and Twitter show the significant presence of diasporic protest. These observations suggest new limits to relying on mainstream newspapers for representing the full array of protest activity. We recommend that, moving forward, researchers experiment with media aggregators to incorporate sources such as television coverage and social media into their research while remaining aware of the additional challenges such data generate.

Counter-Hegemonic Resistance and Framing of the Anti–KORUS FTA Protests in South Korea

Abstract: This study analyzes the framing of protests against the Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), arguably one of the most significant and contentious contemporary movement events that occurred in South Korea. The anti-KORUS FTA protests have drawn the largest public, committed to challenging the hegemonic rhetoric of the Korean government's neoliberal policy initiatives, by asserting the trade deal as posing various social and economic ills to human life. Drawing on the combined framework of Gramscian analysis and the framing perspective, this study highlights the ways in which the anti-KORUS FTA protest activism exercises power by disseminating alternative discourse against the existing political condition. By examining a broad range of data, the study identifies three specific counter-hegemonic framings of collective action used by local civil society organizations to delegitimize the official discourse—'neoliberalism as the problem,' 'public accountability,' and 'national independence.'

The Black Fantastic in International Relations

Abstract In 2016, British investigative journalist Simon Rogers created a map/timeline of Twitter hashtags associated with Black Lives Matter. The map (which no longer exists) indirectly shows both the intensity of Black Lives Matter protests and their geographic scope. Within the United States, we see not only protest activity in metropolitan areas with large black population percentages, but also protest activity in metropolitan areas with few (if any) African Americans. Further, we see protests not just in the United States but throughout the world. The 2020 George Floyd murder arguably spurred more protests against police violence within the United States and around the world than any other moment. We understand these protests as part of a broader decolonial project that seeks to eradicate racialised violence. How does this project develop? In examining Black Lives Matter as a movement, most have either focused on domestic activity within the United States or on instances of international activity, but few have attempted to theorise its spread. I suggest that any approach that focuses solely or primarily on technological advances or on the work of activists misses an essential and under-examined element – US Black popular culture.

Роль установок на авторитаризм и социальное доверие в проявлениях гражданской и онлайн-активности

<p style="text-align: justify;">Attitudes towards authoritarianism, social dominance, social competition and social trust are important regulators of social behavior. Therefore, correlating attitudes with commitment to various forms of activity is an important step towards understanding and specifying their role in behavior. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of attitudes towards authoritarianism and social trust in the manifestations of civic and on-line activity of Russian youth. Participants. The study involved young people aged 17-35 years (average age M=21.8; SD=6.2) in the number of 442 people (men - 33.5%, women - 66.5%). The sample is representative of the provincial regions of central Russia of economically different strata. Methods. The forms of social activity were measured using direct scaling, the types of activity were determined based on factor analysis. To determine the settings, the J. Dakkit’s scale was used in D.S. Grigoriev's adaptation. Indicators of trust are determined using the Scale of interpersonal trust of J. Rotter in the adaptation of I.Y. Leonova, I.N. Leonova. Correlations have been established between indicators of right-wing authoritarianism, institutional trust with commitment to civic (positive) and Internet network (negative) activity; belief in a competitive world — with a commitment to civic (positive) and protest (negative) activity. As a result of structural modeling, the hypothesis about the direct effect (directed connection) of right-wing authoritarianism and belief in a competitive world on commitment to civic and Internet network activity is confirmed. The role of different attitudes in adherence to certain types of activity varies. Their isolated contribution to activity can reach 16-19%, together with age, religiosity and trust - 19-26% of variations. Trust plays the role of a mediator of a direct connection between attitudes and activity, and at the same time, right-wing authoritarianism also plays the role of a mediator of a direct causal connection between age, subjective religiosity and civic and Internet network activity.</p>

Testing the asymmetry hypothesis of tolerance: Thinking about socially disruptive protest actions

Under the asymmetry hypothesis, political tolerance and intolerance differ in their underlying psychology, making it easier to persuade the tolerant to become less tolerant than to convince the intolerant to become more tolerant. Using a representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 546), we examined this hypothesis for people’s tolerance or intolerance of socially disruptive protest actions of their least-liked group. Focusing on the relevant contrasting values of freedom of speech and public order, we found empirical evidence for the asymmetry of political tolerance: it was easier to persuade the tolerant to become less tolerant than to convince the intolerant to become more tolerant. In fact, we found a backlash effect among the intolerant participants with them showing higher intolerance as a result. These findings support the notion that tolerance is more fragile than intolerance because of the required self-restraint that involves psychological discomfort and uneasiness. However, tolerance is indispensable for our increasingly polarized liberal democratic societies making further research on the social psychology of tolerance and intolerance topical and urgent.

Quantitative Analysis of Russian Protests: Regional Authorities and Regions of Authority (2018–2021)

ABSTRACT The authors offer an original dataset of 4,909 protests across Russia in 2018–2021. The study shows that political and pro-democratic protests do not constitute the majority of protests in Russia, their agenda being mainly concentrated on social and economic issues at the local level. Second, the agenda, not geographic proximity, determines the spread of protests, and a political agenda results in faster dissemination. Third, the main organizer of protests is the Communist Party and not non-systemic parties. Fourth, Moscow and Saint Petersburg lag behind at least three other Russian regions in terms of the strength of local protest activity.

Beyond bad behaviour? Towards a broader understanding of school student activism

This paper explores UK school students’ protest activism relating to their schools’ policies and practices, drawing on two datasets: 1) a newspaper analysis of media reports relating to school protests between 2000 and 2021; 2) a survey of 800 secondary school pupils in Wales. Drawing on social movements literature and adapting concepts for the school environment, we present a framework for exploring children’s protest repertoires that distinguishes between institutionalised, legitimated and disruptive forms of activism. Our analysis outlines trends in pupil protest activities and explores stated motivations for protesting. We find that pupils are using a broad range of protest actions, often in combination, to voice concerns about school-based issues. Our data also suggest that pupils link their grievances to wider themes of social justice, rights, fairness and solidarity. Using principles of critical pedagogy, our study challenges hegemonic and deficit-laden ideas about children’s (mis)behaviour as potential mis-readings of activism.

Technologies for Counteracting the Mobilization of Protest Activity of Population: Problems and Prospects in the Context of a Special Military Operation

Technologies for Counteracting the Mobilization of Protest Activity of Population: Problems and Prospects in the Context of a Special Military Operation

The insurgent smart city: How a social movement created an alternative imaginary of the smart city

ABSTRACT Urban scholars have critiqued smart cities for their association with neoliberal governance, narrow focus on quantifiable aspects of urban systems, and failure to incorporate citizens’ needs or aspirations. The “smart city” remains a contested concept and as such is subject to reappropriation. Here, I analyze the case of an urban social movement, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong Anti-ELAB protests, as an alternative, “insurgent smart city.” Following from an earlier network analysis of Telegram channels used during the protests, I show how the communications system underpinning much of the protest action simultaneously enabled coordination while also remaining open to grassroots decision-making and innovations of new protest formats as the movement responded to countertactics of the state and police. Telegram channels linked neighborhood-based organizing to the citywide movement. These actions not only emulated but also inverted top-down visions of a total urban information system underpinning many smart city projects. Framing the Hong Kong Anti-ELAB protests as an insurgent smart city offers an alternative sociotechnical imaginary of what smart cities could be, and raises possibilities for an “insurgent digital citizenship” as an alternative to both state and platform-mediated forms of digital citizenship.