In 2019, protests took place all over the world. From Lebanon to Hong Kong, from Chile to Bolivia, from Iraq to France, protests have erupted in democracies, authoritarian regimes and grey-zone regimes alike. In total, citizens in twenty-nine democracies and thirty-four autocracies protested against autocratization in 2019 (Lührmann and Lindberg, 2020). Just as citizens are critical to accelerating democratic decline, they are essential in pushing for positive change. Earlier chapters explained that the number of coups as a means of authoritarian breakdown is declining. At the same time, there is also an increase in citizen-accepted autocratization as well as citizen-led non-violent revolutions that have forced out autocratic leadership. From 1946 to 2008, 4 per cent of all regime changes were caused by revolutions. From 2010 to 2012, this rose to 25 per cent (Kendall-Taylor and Frantz, 2014). We are seeing a resurgence in what was once a rare pathway to authoritarian breakdown – people taking to the streets to protest a variety of issues. Varieties of Democracy (Lührmann and Lindberg, 2020) reports that the share of countries with large pro-democracy mass protests rose from 27 per cent in 2009 to 44 per cent in 2019. These pro-democracy protests have led to democratization in twenty-two countries since 2010.
The chapter will show how the protests of the 2010s have been driven by similar factors that drive populism – inequality, corruption, bad governance and poor representation. We are also seeing the citizen response to authoritarian populism, with individuals who have never been politically active before being compelled to fight for their democracy.
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