Abstract
What accounts for the survival and long-term participation of activists in contentious movements under repression? I argue for the role of an important yet oft-neglected factor: protective support by civilian bystanders. I propose that, mainly motivated by victim-oriented sympathy, bystanders engage in high-risk protection that helps activists to escape crackdowns and bolsters their dedication to the movement. To test my theoretical claims, I examine hard cases for activist survival at the height of state violence during military rule in Myanmar between 1988 and 2010, with an original qualitative data set consisting of oral history interviews and written accounts by more than 100 protest observers and former pro-democracy activists. The data set presents an unprecedented number of voices from the average, non-contentious general public, which are mostly missing in existing research on social movements. This approach generates a fresh perspective to better understand opportunities and constraints around movement entrepreneurs in hostile environments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 205-225 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Asian Politics & Policy |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:I thank the Yangon School of Political Science and many other individuals, as well as independent libraries, museums, bookstores, and institutions in Yangon, Myanmar for their generous support and guidance during my data collection and analysis process. I also benefited from comments and feedback by the two anonymous reviewers, Tom Pepinsky, Matthew Evangelista, Jeremy Wallace, Nic van de Walle, Sid Tarrow, Tyrell Haberkorn, Kai Ostwald, Maria Thaemar C. Tana, and participants at University of Essex–University of the Philippines Diliman's Beyond Essentialism Workshop, Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program Lecture Series, the Association for Asian Studies Conference, and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies' Lunch Talk Series. The author received funding from Cornell University for the field research. The work on this article was also supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 101079069).
Funding Information:
I thank the Yangon School of Political Science and many other individuals, as well as independent libraries, museums, bookstores, and institutions in Yangon, Myanmar for their generous support and guidance during my data collection and analysis process. I also benefited from comments and feedback by the two anonymous reviewers, Tom Pepinsky, Matthew Evangelista, Jeremy Wallace, Nic van de Walle, Sid Tarrow, Tyrell Haberkorn, Kai Ostwald, Maria Thaemar C. Tana, and participants at University of Essex–University of the Philippines Diliman's Beyond Essentialism Workshop, Cornell University's Southeast Asia Program Lecture Series, the Association for Asian Studies Conference, and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies' Lunch Talk Series. The author received funding from Cornell University for the field research. The work on this article was also supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 101079069).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Asian Politics & Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Policy Studies Organization.