Who Demonstrates? Antistate Rebels, Conventional Participants, or Everyone?

Abstract

Many studies have drawn attention to rising levels of political protest, whether understood as the spread of democracy, the growth of the society, or an expression of global civic society.1 They raise important questions about the causes and consequences of this development, in particular about who demonstrates. Analysis of this problem also raises familiar methodological chal lenges about how far ad hoc and irregular protest activities can be measured through traditional survey techniques and event (content) analysis.2 Commonly used to explain and interpret demonstration activism are antistate, resource-based, and con textual theories. They can be evaluated by comparing the 1973-76 baseline Political Action study with successive waves of the World Values study, 1981-2001, to estab lish cross-national trends in the extent of protest activity. Belgium, the focus of this study, is a postindustrial society that exemplifies the rise of protest politics. The 1999 Belgian-Flanders general election study provides a representative cross-section of the electorate and can be supplemented by a unique series of surveys of protestors engaged in a range of seven different demonstrations in Belgium. Through these sur veys it is possible to analyze who demonstrates in Belgium, comparing the social and attitudinal characteristics of party members, civic joiners, and demonstrators, and to evaluate models among those actually engaged in different demonstrations.