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From masks to mismanagement: A global assessment of the rise and fall of pandemic-related protests

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  • Hellmeier, Sebastian

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic changed contentious politics worldwide. After causing a short-lived decline in global protest activities in early 2020, it has led to the emergence of a variety of pandemic-related protests. While previous work has mostly looked at how event frequencies have changed over time, this paper focuses on changes in protest issues. It applies quantitative text analysis to protest event descriptions and makes the following contributions. First, it traces the rise and fall of pandemic-related protests globally between 2020 and mid-2022, showing that, on average, more than 15% of protest events were pandemic-related. Second, it identifies the most dominant pandemic-related protest issues—masks and vaccination, the economy, business restrictions, health care, education, mismanagement, and crime—and their salience over time. Third, the paper explores potential explanations for differences in the prevalence of pandemic-related protest issues between countries. Multivariate regression analyses suggest a global divide. Protests in developed countries and liberal democracies were more likely about government restrictions. In contrast, citizens in less developed countries took to the streets to demand better healthcare provision.

Suggested Citation

  • Hellmeier, Sebastian, 2023. "From masks to mismanagement: A global assessment of the rise and fall of pandemic-related protests," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 1-9.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:295217
    DOI: 10.1177/20531680231191833
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thomas Hale & Noam Angrist & Rafael Goldszmidt & Beatriz Kira & Anna Petherick & Toby Phillips & Samuel Webster & Emily Cameron-Blake & Laura Hallas & Saptarshi Majumdar & Helen Tatlow, 2021. "A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker)," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 529-538, April.
    2. Edgell, Amanda B. & Lachapelle, Jean & Lührmann, Anna & Maerz, Seraphine F., 2021. "Pandemic backsliding: Violations of democratic standards during Covid-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    3. Koen Zwet & Ana I. Barros & Tom M. Engers & Peter M. A. Sloot, 2022. "Emergence of protests during the COVID-19 pandemic: quantitative models to explore the contributions of societal conditions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. 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.
    5. James N. Druckman & Samara Klar & Yanna Krupnikov & Matthew Levendusky & John Barry Ryan, 2021. "Affective polarization, local contexts and public opinion in America," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 28-38, January.
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