Ruud Wouters

The missing link in the diffusion of protest : asking others

Mobilization for protest is a process of diffusion in interpersonal networks. Extant work has found that being asked by people one knows is a key determinant of participation, but the flip side—asking others—has been neglected. The authors examine which prospective participants are most likely to ask others to participate and whom they ask. Drawing on a new and unusual data set including evidence on more than 7,000 participants in 48 demonstrations across Europe, the authors find that activists who are committed to the demonstration’s cause (willing to recruit others) and who are part of participation-friendly networks (able to recruit others) are the most active recruiters. Asking others is dependent on being asked: participants tend to recruit people similar to those who have recruited them and, most importantly, participants who are recruited via strong ties are less active recruiters themselves.

Response Problems in the Protest Survey Design: Evidence from Fifty-One Protest Events in Seven Countries*

Protest surveys are increasingly used to tackle questions related to participation in social movements. However, it is unclear whether they generate useful and valid data. This study puts the protest survey design to the test by relying on data of 51 demonstrations (2009–2011) in seven European countries. We use data on 15,000 protest participants combined with screener questionnaires and extensive debriefing records of the interviewer teams. We account for noncontact (fieldwork problems), immediate and delayed refusal, and refusal bias. Results show that fieldwork problems are frequent, that immediate refusal is low, and that delayed refusal is considerable. Systematic refusal bias is only found for age and education. Differences between countries and protest issues are small but the issue determines the composition of an event which, in turn, leads to higher or lower refusal. Researchers should be cautious when using protest survey data to compare protest events across issues. The paper pleads for stand...

Demonstrating Power: How Protest Persuades Political Representatives

How do public opinion signals affect political representatives’ opinion formation? To date, we have only limited knowledge about this essential representative process. In this article, we theorize and examine the signaling strength of one type of societal signal: protest. We do so by means of an innovative experiment conducted among Belgian national and regional politicians. Elected officials were exposed to manipulated television news items covering a protest demonstration. Following Tilly’s previously untested WUNC claim, four features of the event were manipulated: the demonstrators’ worthiness, unity, numerical strength, and commitment. We argue that these protest features present elected officials with useful cues about what (a segment of) the public wants. We find that these cues affect elected officials’ beliefs. The salience they attach to the protest issue, the position they take, and their intended actions all change as a consequence of exposure. The size of a protest event (numbers) and whether the protesters agree among themselves (unity) are the most persuasive protest factors. The effects of the protest signals come on top of strong receiver effects. We find no evidence that elected officials’ predispositions moderate the effects of the protest features.

Reporting Demonstrations: On Episodic and Thematic Coverage of Protest Events in Belgian Television News

Media attention is a crucial political resource for protest groups. This study examines the description of protests in Belgian television news. Specifically, it analyzes the degree to which the coverage of protests is episodic (event- or exemplar-oriented) or thematic (issue-oriented) and looks into the factors that drive these coverage types. Protest event data from police archives (Brussels; 2003–2010) are combined with detailed measures of television news content (public and private broadcasting) to analyze media description (N = 564). The results show that the coverage of protest is primarily thematic. Episodic coverage is dominated by coverage about the details of the event; exemplars are rarely used. Protests that are disruptive, staged by organizations with low media standing, and covered by the commercial station are more event-oriented. Reports of large demonstrations and reports with follow-up items contain more episodic-exemplar coverage. Results are discussed in light of the conditionality of the protest paradigm.

Degrees of frame alignment: Comparing organisers’ and participants’ frames in 29 demonstrations in three countries

The frame alignment approach is one of the most influential mobilisation theories. This theory holds that frame alignment is a necessary condition for movement participation. The present study challenges this premise. Instead of treating frame alignment as a precondition for participation, the authors address it as something that should be empirically examined. And rather than distinguishing between either aligned or non-aligned protesters, they study frame alignment as a matter of degree. They do so drawing on protest surveys collected during 29 demonstrations in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The authors answer the following research questions: To what extent are the frames of protest organisers and participants aligned? And are there differences in degrees of alignment across framing tasks, countries and issues? The findings show that many participants are only partially aligned. The highest levels of alignment are found for the diagnostic framing task. The article finds few differences across countries and issues for general alignment levels, but sub-aspects do tend to differ.

The coverage of China in Belgian television news: a case study on the impact of foreign correspondents on news content

This study examines the difference that stationing a foreign correspondent can make for news coverage. We focus on the particular case of the news coverage of China on Belgian television. In Belgium, the public broadcaster decided to station a correspondent in China for an extended period of time, while the private commercial competitor did not do so. Drawing on a database of news coverage of China before and after the deployment of the correspondent in China (2005–2009), this study compares the news content for the quantity and issue diversity of the coverage of China, actors in the news, actor coverage, tone, nuance, and focus on everyday life. We conclude that, while foreign correspondents deliver the expected quality of news coverage on many fronts at the same time, generally they are not able to make a significant difference in the news to the overall picture of that faraway country.

Patterns in Advocacy Group Portrayal Comparing Attributes of Protest and Non-Protest News Items Across Advocacy Groups

This article compares features of protest and non-protest news items across three types of advocacy groups. More specifically, it tests differences in news item duration (length), prominence (lead item), standing (direct quotation), and source selection (balance). Analyzing 2,845 news items of 17 Belgian advocacy groups, this study shows that across all advocacy groups, protest items are less frequently balanced and significantly shorter than non-protest items. Differences between protest and non-protest items are small for unions, detrimental for environmental groups, and beneficial for peace organizations. Discussion centers on the (un)conditionality of the protest paradigm and its implications for advocacy groups seeking social change.

Protesters on message? Explaining demonstrators’ differential degrees of frame alignment

Abstract The frame alignment perspective emphasizes the importance of congruence in beliefs between protest participants and protest organizers. Although frame alignment is widely used in social movement research and matters for important movement processes, it has remained largely unclear how we can explain different degrees of frame alignment among protesters. We use empirical evidence regarding organizers’ and participants’ frames, surveying 4000 protesters in twenty-nine demonstrations between 2009 and 2012 in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The results show that frame alignment depends on variables that tap into protesters’ exposure to organizational and alternative messages. Participants who are recruited by staging organizations, and events organized by strong and more professionalized organizations, display higher levels of frame alignment, whereas salience of the protest issue in the political arena severely constrains frame alignment.

Preparing for action: police deployment decisions for demonstrations

ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to analyse police decision-making about protest policing. While previous quantitative studies of protest policing rely mainly on newspaper data, this study presents an alternative design to tease out how the police decide irrespective of what protesters do during demonstrations and to study ‘net’ protest policing. We propose to focus on the decisions police officers take before the actual protest event takes place. Drawing on the existing literature of protest policing we test hypotheses about police preparation for protest drawing on two concepts: police knowledge and protest threat. To test our hypotheses, we use a unique dataset of police records of demonstrations in Brussels, Belgium, between 2001 and 2010. The dataset contains full data about the official demonstration permit requests submitted by protest organisers. Our results confirm our expectations and show that police previous experience with protesters and the level of threat are important factors in explaining decision-making prior to protest events.

Less than Expected? How Media Cover Demonstration Turnout:

Demonstration turnout is a crucial political resource for social movements. In this article, we investigate how mass media cover demonstration size. We develop a typology of turnout coverage and scrutinize the factors that drive turnout coverage. In addition, we test whether media coverage underestimates, reflects, or exaggerates “guesstimates” by organizers and police forces. Together, these analyses shed light on whether turnout coverage fits a logic of normalization or marginalization. We rely on a unique dataset of 428 demonstrations organized in Brussels (2003–2010). For these demonstrations, we have information on the turnout as reported in national television news, as counted by the police, and as expected by the organizers. We find that media present turnout most often as a fact, rarely as contentious (10 percent). Although few demonstrations pass the media gates, our study yields little to no evidence for a logic of turnout marginalization. Media coverage does not systematically underestimate demonstration size, nor does it blindly follow police counts. Rather, turnout coverage attests of a logic of normalization, following standard news-making practices. The more important the demonstration (size, lead item) and the larger the gap between police and organizer guesstimates, the more attention is paid to turnout in the news. Discussion centers on the generalizability and normative interpretation of the results.