The Power of Protests: An Alternative Form of Political Participation.

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Introduction

While political participation can be exercised through various institutional varieties of political participation such as ballots and electoral systems, non-institutional political participation is on the rise. Protests stand as an indispensable form of non-institutional practice for citizens to express their voice and demand for radical change (Battaglini, 2017, p.487). However, protests have inherent weaknesses that inhibit them from being an effective form of political participation. Political participation refers to citizens activities that are aimed at influencing public policy and the actions of the government (Verba, Nie, 1972, p.2). This blog will outline the strengths and weakness of protests as a different form of political participation using Extinction Rebellion (XR) as an example.

Extinction Rebellion

Recently, within the UK protest have arisen regarding concerns over climate change propelled by XR. XR utilise striking protests tactics that involved road blockages and other disruptive forms, it served as a catalyst for mass mobilisation and put environmental concerns onto the political agenda (Extinction rebellion, 2024). Their protests have drawn attention to the inadequacy of the government to respond to climate emergency and the inability of traditional voting to influence political discourse (Furlong, Vignoles, 2020, p.20).  The example of XR highlights a key feature and strength of protests and that is one of amplifying voices.

‘Extinction Rebellion: We need To Talk About the Future’, by Vladimir Morozov, 2019. License: CC by 3.0.

Strengths

Protests like XR can unite and mobilise thousands of people underneath one banner fighting for a cause and utilise society to influence political discourse. Mobilisation often transcends the typical demographic and draws in a variety of backgrounds including those who are unable to vote (Erpyleva, 2021, p.1217). For concerns regarding the climate, it is often a younger generation who garner more concern, aged between 8-19, who the majority have the inability to vote in elections (Lee, et al, 2020, p.2). Younger generations believe that failure to address climate change will impact them the most hence why it is more of a concern for them (Warren, 2019). Protests thus serve as a necessary path for younger citizens to engage within the political realm in a meaningful way, they provide them with a platform to voice their concerns (Erpyleva, 2021, p.1217).

Similarly, protests can provide a voice to marginalized groups who can find it difficult to achieve proper representation within electoral systems. Within the UK to elect MPs a First Past the Post system (FPTP) is used however, in FPTP systems there is a winner-takes-all dynamic in which the candidate with the most votes wins (Curtice, 2010, p.624). This can be problematic as it perpetuates a two-party system where the most established and largest parties have a realistic chance of winning seats (Curtice, 2010, p.624). This results in parties that are smaller and represent marginalized groups struggling to gain traction and secure electoral representation (Blau, 2004). The graph below highlights this displaying the little representation small parties have. For marginalised groups, protests are a way to bring forth their concerns to the political agenda as their voice becomes amplified. XR provides groups who have been affected by environmental and social injustices with a platform to raise their concerns (Extinction rebellion, 2024).  As highlighted by Beckett, protests enable people to participate in politics especially when they have not been represented by MPs (2024).

‘UK 2010 election: Actual results’, by Oledoe, May 2010. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oledoe/4588867930/in/photostream/ . License: CC by 3.0.

Weaknesses

However, while protests allow marginalised groups or those unable to take part in forms of institutional participation participate in politics, the effectiveness of protests can be questioned. Often large-scale protest, particularly those that involve civil disobedience (roadblocks etc…) like ones performed by XR, can experience more backlash and harm the cause (Teixeira, et al., 2023, p.3). Practices like these can decrease public support and thus policy implementation becomes harder to establish (Shuman, et al., 2023, p.9). Rather than influencing politics the disruptive nature of protests can alienate politicians and civil society from the cause (Teixeira, et al., 2023, p.2). XR protests have sparked outrage within society and from MPs causing a stream of negativity around the cause to form on social media taking away from their message. Thus, it is hard to engage with political participation if the activity you engage with is not influencing public policy in a meaningful way.

Conclusion

Overall, it is clear to see that protests are a meaningful alternative of political participation to electoral voting. It amplifies marginalised groups and those unable to engage with institutional forms of political participation. Movements like XR provide a good example of how protests influence policy. Nonetheless protests can face backlash thus hindering the cause due to its disruptive nature.

Bibliography

Battaglini, M. (2017). ‘Public Protests and Policy Making’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics,132 (1), pp.485–549.

Beckett, A. (2024). ‘MPs, understand this: protests are inevitable when you fail to represent the people’, The Guardian, 10th March, [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/10/streets-mps-protesters-politics-gaza-climate-parliament (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Blau, A. (2004). ‘Fairness and Electoral Reform’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 6(2), pp.165-181, [Online]. Available at:   https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2004.00132.x (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Curtice, J. (2010). ‘So What Went Wrong with the Electoral System? The 2010 Election Result and the Debate about Electoral Reform’, Parliamentary Affairs 63(4), pp.623–38, [Online]. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/63/4/623/1585284  (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Erpyleva, s. (2021). ‘Active citizens under eighteen: minors in political protests’, Journal of Youth Studies, 24(9), pp.1215-1233, [Online]. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13676261.2020.1820973 (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Extinction Rebellion (2024). Available at: https://extinctionrebellion.uk/  (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Furlong, C., Vignoles, V.L. (2021). ‘Social Identification in Collective Climate Activism: Predicting Participation in the Enviornmental Movement, Extinction Rebellion’, Identity, 21(1), PP.20-35, [Online]. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15283488.2020.1856664 (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Lee, K., Gjersoe, N., O’neill, S., Barnett, J., (2020). ‘Youth perceptions of climate change: A narrative synthesis’, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 11(3), p.1-24, [Online]. Available at: https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wcc.641 (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Shuman, E., Saguy, T., van Zomeren, M., Halperin, E. (2020). ‘Disrupting the system constructively: Testing the effectiveness of nonnormative nonviolent collective action’, Journal of personality and social psychology, 121(4), pp.819-841.

Teixeira, C., Spears, R., Iyer, A., Leach, C. (2023). ‘Qualified support for normative vs. non-normative protest: Less invested members of advantaged groups are most supportive when the protest fits the opportunity for status improvement’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 106(1), pp.1-18, [Online]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2023.104454. (Accessed: 20 April 2024).

Verba, S., Nie, N.H. (1972). Participation in America: political democracy and social equality, Chicago: University of Chicago press.

Warren, M. (2019). ‘Thousands of scientists are backing the kids striking for climate change’, Nature, 14th March, [Online]. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00861-z  (Accessed: 20 April 2024).