Protest

I use the cross-national survey data to test whether protests targeting the ruling party increase the level of mass polarization among electoral democracies.

We test the effect of protests on governmental action at the regional or local level.

Populist leaders mobilize supporters to accomplish the political transformations they seek to achieve. However, once they are in office, populist leaders also encounter mobilizations against them because of their exclusionary rhetoric as well as their attack on existing democratic norms.

We argue that the effect of vertical threats is contingent on the existence of lateral threats. Popular mobilization is more likely to promote democratic change if a unified opposition translates popular grievances to democratic demands.