Mass Mobilization and Protests in Comparative Perspective

Session Submission Type: Virtual Created Panel

Session Description

Mass mobilization and protests worldwide have increased dramatically over the past decade. In Russia, primarily non-violent student protests are a common occurrence yet exhibit diverse forms and objectives. In Belarus, women’s activism and “civic technology” facilitated citizen mobilization to challenge electoral manipulation in the 2020 presidential election. Analysis of Chinese officials’ career trajectories and protest events suggests that relationships between protestors and higher-level political elites also affects protest likelihood and outcomes. How the state, media, and protestors frame these protests -- and which narratives become dominant - also strongly affects protest outcomes. For example, Chinese state media framed the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong using “rule of law” discourse; in contrast, its portrayal of the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Movement as “violent” and a “foreign intervention” sought to justify repression. This panel’s cross-national consideration of mass mobilization and protests provides new insights into their drivers and outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Division 13: Politics of Communist and Former Communist Countries

Individual Presentations

• Beijing’s Different Reactions Towards the Protests in Hong Kong: 2014 vs 2019 - Zhenyu Zhang, Cornell University

• "I am Doing This out of Love": Mobilization for Fair Elections in Belarus - Alesia Sedziaka, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Mapping Student Protests in Russia: The Navalny factor - Ararat L. Osipian, Donbas

• Eyeing the Credible Top: Elite Origins of Popular Resistance in China - Yanjun Liu, Peking University; Jie(婕) MA(马), Peking University, Beijing, China

• How Propaganda Encourages Citizenry Protest in Autocracies - Li Shao, Zhejiang University

Chair

• Ye Wang New York University

Discussants

• Dilshod Achilov University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

• Wendy Leutert Indiana University