Multi-channelled forceful intervention, frames and protest success—a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative study of 40 anti-demolition protests in China

Abstract

Having incorporated the characteristics of Chinese politics, this article puts forward an exploratory analytic framework for understanding protest success and points out how political opportunities and protest frames can explain protest success. Political opportunities not only include direct intervention by the central government but also support from state-sponsored media and favourable policies and laws. This article uses the method of fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to compare 40 socially influential cases of anti-demolition protests in China. The results show that the co-presence of central government intervention and supportive reports from central state-sponsored media-which this study calls "multi-channelled forceful intervention"-is a sufficient condition for protest success. Further, "multichannelled forceful intervention" depends on a favourable institutional environment and protestors' strategic use of multiple frames. This article not only enriches the studies on protest results but also expands on the theory of political opportunity structures and the study of protest frames.

Civic Participation in Chinese Cyberpolitics: A Grounded Theory Approach of Para-Xylene Projects

“…Beggar-thy-neighbor/policy advocacy [50] Pollution level/public health/economic loss [51] Disaster description/problem interpretation/accident investigation [52] Land Evictions Natural justice/gender equality/safeguarding rights and interests/supporting the Communist Party/abnormal petition/riots/contradictions among the people/peaceful protests/pole-breaking uprising/new peasant movement/media helps protect rights/overseas forces incited/officials should reflect/democracy [49] Socialism/collectivism/central media involvement/opinion leader involvement [54]…”

“…The fourth category, different from the content framework above, focuses on the involvement of different subjects in the development of events. For example, there are expert positions/elite consciousness [ 53 ] and central media involvement/opinion leader involvement [ 54 ].…”

Nonmarketization Bargaining and Actual Compensation Level for Land Requisition: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of China’s Land Requisition Conflict Events

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