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Dynamics of Political Protests

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  • Klein, Graig R.
  • Regan, Patrick M.

Abstract

The links between protests and state responses have taken on increased visibility in light of the Arab Spring movements. But we still have unanswered questions about the relationship between protest behaviors and responses by the state. We frame this in terms of concession and disruption costs. Costs are typically defined as government behaviors that impede dissidents’ capacity for collective action. We change this causal arrow and hypothesize how dissidents can generate costs that structure the government's response to a protest. By disaggregating costs along dimensions of concession and disruption we extend our understanding of protest behaviors and the conditions under which they are more (or less) effective. Utilizing a new cross-national protest-event data set, we test our theoretical expectations against protests from 1990 to 2014 and find that when protesters generate high concession costs, the state responds in a coercive manner. Conversely, high disruption costs encourage the state to accommodate demands. Our research provides substantial insights and inferences about the dynamics of government response to protest.

Suggested Citation

  • Klein, Graig R. & Regan, Patrick M., 2018. "Dynamics of Political Protests," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 485-521, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:intorg:v:72:y:2018:i:02:p:485-521_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Pearce Edwards, 2021. "The politics of nonviolent mobilization: Campaigns, competition, and social movement resources," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 58(5), pages 945-961, September.
    2. Sooyeon Kang, 2023. "Upping the ante without taking up arms: Why mass movements escalate demands," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(1), pages 73-87, January.
    3. Keremoğlu, Eda & Hellmeier, Sebastian & Weidmann, Nils B., 2022. "Thin-skinned leaders: regime legitimation, protest issues, and repression in autocracies," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 136-152.
    4. Sargis Karavardanyan, 2021. "Are Actions Costlier Than Words? Formal Models of Protester-Police Dynamic Interactions and Evidence from Empirical Analysis," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 1-29, December.
    5. Charles Butcher & Jessica Maves Braithwaite & Jonathan Pinckney & Eirin Haugseth & Ingrid Vik Bakken & Marius Swane Wishman, 2022. "Introducing the Anatomy of Resistance Campaigns (ARC) dataset," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(3), pages 449-460, May.
    6. Sirianne Dahlum, 2023. "Joining forces: Social coalitions and democratic revolutions," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 60(1), pages 42-57, January.
    7. Shin, Hoon C. & Vallury, Sechindra & Abbott, Joshua K. & Anderies, John M. & Yu, David J., 2022. "Understanding the effects of institutional diversity on irrigation systems dynamics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    8. Peter J. Phillips & Gabriela Pohl, 2021. "Crowd counting: a behavioural economics perspective," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 2253-2270, December.

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