Enabling Activist Resilience: Bystander Protection during Protest Crackdowns in Myanmar
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Enabling Activist Resilience: Bystander Protection during Protest Crackdowns in Myanmar. / Tran, Mai Van.
I: Asian Politics and Policy, Bind 15, Nr. 2, 2023, s. 205-225.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Enabling Activist Resilience: Bystander Protection during Protest Crackdowns in Myanmar
AU - Tran, Mai Van
N1 - The work on this article was supported by funding from the European Union’s research and innovation programme HORIZON-WIDERA-2021-ACCESS-03-01 under grant agreement No 101079069, entitled The EU in the volatile Indo-Pacific region (EUVIP). Licensing terms: CC BY.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - 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 1988-2010, with an original qualitative dataset consisting of oral history interviews and written accounts by more than 100 protest observers and former pro-democracy activists. The dataset 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.
AB - 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 1988-2010, with an original qualitative dataset consisting of oral history interviews and written accounts by more than 100 protest observers and former pro-democracy activists. The dataset 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.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - activist resilience
KW - authoritarian repression
KW - military rule
KW - Myanmar
KW - protest movement
U2 - 10.1111/aspp.12683
DO - 10.1111/aspp.12683
M3 - Journal article
VL - 15
SP - 205
EP - 225
JO - Asian Politics and Policy
JF - Asian Politics and Policy
SN - 1943-0779
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 324814991