The context: Patterns of protest culture in the three types of democracy.
Objectives of the Work Package 1:
1. Historical overview of the patterns of protest culture in the three types of democracy;
2. To Identify similarities and differences between the patterns of protest culture in the three
types of democracy;
3. Operationalization of the concepts for the subsequent empirical analysis.
Work Package 1
Pro-democratic vis-à-vis anti-democratic protest culture (the activists/grassroots level).
Objectives of the Work Package 2:
1. To analyze the most important selected cases of pro-democratic protest(s) in the target countries from the perspective of activists/protesters;
2. To analyze the most important selected cases of anti-democratic protest(s) in the target countries from the perspective of activists/protesters;
3. To trace the similarities and differences between the repertoires and framing of prodemocratic vs anti-democratic protests in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 2
Instrumentalization of institutional mechanisms (by political elites/authorities).
Objectives of the Work Package 3:
1. To analyze the policies, practices, and legal strategies the states use to curtail protests;
2. To reveal the law enforcement agents’ and policy-makers’ vs CSO representatives’perspectives on the authorities’ use of “hard” measures in response to protests;
3. To reveal how the states instrumentalize the institutional mechanisms in response to protests in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 3
Instrumentalization of discursive frames (by political elites and media).
Objectives of the Work Package 4:
1. To analyze the political actors’ agenda and framing in response to protests within the mainstream media;
2. To reveal whether and how the protesters/activists’ agenda penetrates the mainstream media agenda and what the agency of media is in representing the protest repertoires and framing;
3. To reveal how the political and media actors instrumentalize discursive strategies in response to protests in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 4
Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z – Differences in citizens’ perception of and participation in protest (the citizens/grassroots level).
Objectives of the Work Package 5:
1. To analyze the three generations’ perceptions about the pro-democratic and antidemocratic protests in the target countries;
2. To analyze the three generations’ participation patterns in the institutional/conventional and non-institutional/unconventional forms of protests (both online and offline) in the target countries;
3. To reveal how the three generations’ perceptions of and participation patterns in protests differ in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 5
Influence of protest culture on the state of democracy.
Objectives of the Work Package 6:
1. To analyze whether and how the concerns articulated during the protests are represented in the political actors’ institutional and/or discursive agenda in the three types of democracy;
2. To analyze the role of media in bridging the citizens’ preferences with the agenda of political actors and through this enabling a dialogue between them;
3. To reveal whether the citizens consider their preferences to be included in the political agenda, and hence they feel they are sufficiently represented in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 6
Dissemination and Communication.
Objectives of the Work Package 7:
1. To disseminate the project results among the academic community;
2. To communicate the project results to various stakeholders such as policy-makers, political parties, CSOs, media and citizens;
3. To encourage a dialogue between political actors and activists for the bridging of the citizens’ preferences with the agenda of political parties;
4. To encourage a dialogue between media actors and activists for fostering a better representation of citizens’ concerns in the mainstream media;
5. To strengthen the activists’ international networks though facilitating their exchange of best practices;
6. To stimulate the societal discussions about protest culture under transformation and as a transformative power in the three types of democracy.
Work Package 7
Management and Ethics.
Objectives of the Work Package 8:
1. To oversee the project’s administrative and scientific performance;
2. To ensure the commitment to contractual and fiscal requirements;
3. To ensure the timely internal (the consortium) and external (the funder) reporting on the project progress.