Protest Brokers and the Technology of Mobilization: Evidence from South Africa

Abstract

Why do some communities protest to demand change, while other seemingly similar communities do not? A large body of literature has found that elites play an important role in this regard, and documented the wide variety of mobilization tactics they use. While such arguments go some way toward explaining protest patterns, however, the literature has so far struggled to explain why some elites are able to employ these mobilization tactics so much more effectively than others. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa, I argue that closer attention to the technology of mobilization helps to explain these patterns. Specifically, I identify the critical role played by protest brokers—intermediaries who connect elites desiring mobilization with potential protesters. Without these brokers, I argue, many elites lack the local knowledge, connections, and trust necessary to mobilize collective action, significantly decreasing the likelihood of protest occurrence, and helping to explain where protests happen.

The fast and the victorious: Mobility, motorcyclists and political mobilisation in Uganda

“…Such internal organisation mainly consists of stages and associations that act as moorings and organisational institutions but also act as contact points for mobilisers in search of activists. The Boda-Boda leadership thereby functions as an intermediary, similar to brokers in the works of Bowles et al (2020) and Lockwood (2022). Being easily approachable, Boda-Boda leaders can quickly assemble the available riders of their stage or association.…”

“…Focusing on 'mobilities', we analyse how and why Boda-Bodas are mobile and how this defines their role as a distinct group of campaign activists. This article is thereby contributing to an expanding set of literature that examines the relationship between mobility and political power (Baerenholdt, 2013;Paterson, 2014;Rau, 2011), as well as to the study of party mobilisation (Lockwood et al, 2022) and campaign activists in sub-Saharan Africa (Paget, 2019a). To do so, we analyse the involvement of Boda-Boda motorcyclists in the production of political rallies.…”

The Role of Partisanship, Identity and Incentives in Mobilizing Zambian Citizens

“…In addition to the potential impact of shared identities, the literature on voting and social movements also suggests that the availability and provision of material and social incentives, both positive and negative, has an important mobilizing effect (Klandermans, 2004;Lockwood, 2022;Olson, 1965). Incentives can include the provision of material goods (Olson, 1965), social incentives such as participating alongside friends (Klandermans, 2004), and the use of negative incentives such as monitoring and sanctioning (Olson, 1965;White et al, 2014).…”

Social Brokerage: Accountability and the Social Life of Information

“…Social brokers, in contrast, attempt to build conceptual bridges between citizens and agents of the state. 3 This dual-facing nature of social brokerage also sets it apart it from the work of “protest brokers” (Lockwood, 2021), who connect political elites downward to community networks or social movement organizations to spark contentious action. While social brokers certainly can and do tap into such networks to activate claim-making, they do so in conjunction with vertical efforts to make officials more responsive to citizens’ claims.…”