Protest against Covid-19 containment policies in European countries
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00223433221135335 |
| Author | Eric Neumayer,Katharina Gabriela Pfaff,Thomas Plümper |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Regular Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00223433221135335
Journal of Peace Research
2024, Vol. 61(3) 398 –412
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00223433221135335
journals.sagepub.com/home/jpr
1225162JPR0010.1177/00223433221135335Journal of Peace ResearchNeumayer et al.
research-article2023
Regular Article
Protest against Covid-19 containment
policies in European countries
Eric Neumayer
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Katharina Gabriela Pfaff
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Thomas Plu
¨mper
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Abstract
Protests against coronavirus policies have occurred in all European countries. The intensity of protest varies strongly,
however. We explain this variation by strategic choices that protest organizers make to maintain the protest
movement. Specifically, we argue that protest organizers pay heed to the dynamics of the pandemic in their country:
the number of protest events is higher when and where mortality rates are lower and containment policies are more
stringent. At the same time, the number of protest events is influenced by political factors. Despite the fact that civil
liberties facilitate trust in government, these two variables exert opposite effects: while higher trust in government and
public administration reduces the number of protest events, stronger civil liberties increase the number of protest
events. We find evidence for these hypotheses in an analysis of the number of monthly protest events based on
information from ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, in 28 European countries between
March 2020 and August 2021.
Keywords
civil liberties, containment policies, Covid-19, mobilization, political trust, protest
Introduction
Protests against coronavirus policies have become almost
as epidemic as the virus itself. In most European coun-
tries, protesters have opposed lockdowns and mask wear-
ing requirements, school closures and vaccination
programs but sometimes also demanded economic sup-
port from their governments for those hit hardest by the
policies. These protests united a wide range of people
that have otherwise little in common – stretching from
those who fundamentally reject the democratic system of
their home country to those who have voted for main-
stream parties all their lives but feel economically and
socially threatened by strict lockdown policies. While
protesters share their opposition against coronavirus pol-
icies such as closures or curfews, the number of
coronavirus-related protest events varies immensely
across countries and over time (Fluegel & Holcomb,
2021).
Drawing on theories of protest mobilization (Opp &
Roehl, 1990; Davenport, 2005), we argue in this article
that protest events against containment policies
1
are
more likely to occur where and when coronavirus
policies are relatively comprehensive and strict and where
Corresponding author:
e.neumayer@lse.ac.uk
1
In what follows, we use the terms ‘coronavirus policies’ and ‘Covid-
19 containment policies’ interchangeably for all policies and
regulatory measures aimed at reducing the spread of the virus.
To continue reading
Request your trial