Perspectives on Protest in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the perspectives on protest in a sample of Latin Americans from seven countries. We first define the context in which protest occurs in Latin America, directed principally to economic needs and inequalities. We next describe the dynamic relationship between protestors and the state, wherein the government tries to maintain power and control and the protestors try to change the government, a policy, or the extent of its power. We also review perceptions of political institutions that are widely viewed as weak, the institutionalization of the party system is low, and there are high levels of legislative fragmentation. Furthermore, we address the importance of the blogosphere and Internet and the extent to which they serve as ways to communicate and organize social movements. Finally, we report on the responses of the sample to two items concerning protest on the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey. The results indicate that Latin Americans are supportive of the right to protest and demonstrate pro-social agency in regard to a scenario that describes police beating peaceful protesters; however, there are some responses that showed lack of agency, and women are more likely than men to provide pro-social responses to the prompt, whereas men were more likely than women to provide antisocial responses.