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Since the mid-2000s militant local political protests have been a frequent occurrence in informal settlements and townships across South Africa. Allegations of corruption and favouritism figure prominently in these demonstrations that often aim to remove local officials who are perceived not to have delivered on their electoral promises. Focusing on the relationship between patronage politics and local protests, this article analyses the 2011 unrest in Zandspruit informal settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The protests were triggered by intra-African National Congress (ANC) rivalry and factionalism in the build-up to the local elections. Through an analysis of the political opportunities, framing processes, and mobilizing structures of the protests, the article depicts the ways in which patronage and collective action work together. By doing so, it reveals the agency \"from below\" of local elite and subaltern groups in defining the formation and mutual advancement of patron-client relations. The article thus shows how the close relationship between the ANC and the state at the local level gives rise to particular patron-client relations between low-income residents, the ANC, and the state. As a result, the state is not understood as a bureaucratic dispenser of public goods on the basis of rights but as a relational system of reciprocal dependence and obligation.

In June 2013, a series of large demonstrations throughout Brazil started to shake its main cities and political landscape. In this article I juxtapose these protests, the social movements of the 1970s and 1980s that brought the poor peripheries of São Paulo to the center of the political scene, and the cultural production coming from these peripheries after the 1990s. This juxtaposition creates a perspective from which to look at the changes that have transformed cities, citizens, and the polity in Brazil during the last decades. One of my main arguments is that in São Paulo, as in many other metropolises shaped by peripheral urbanization, political agency is inseparable from the spatial configuration of the city and from its shifting patterns of spatial segregation and social inequality. I focus on the peripheries and argue that the quality of both poverty, the urban environment, and citizens’ engagement have changed a great deal from the 1970s to the present. Poverty has different signifiers in a city of better infrastructure, mass communication, democracy, less violence, and broader access to consumption. Difficulty in moving around the city is one of these signifiers. Moreover, politics has other languages and tools in the context of intensified cultural production and circulation and of a democracy people can take for granted.

How do we explore the relationship between the urban poor and large-scale revolutions? What kind of politics do they espouse in such extraordinary times? In this article I narrate the story of the poor people’s struggles for sustenance and citizenship during and after the Arab uprisings, focusing on Egypt and Tunisia. I suggest that while the abject poor and rural migrants avoid direct involvement in large-scale uprisings, the nature of which they do not comprehend, the “middle-class poor,” a product of the neoliberal restructuring, tend to engage in and lead others to these broader revolts. But most take advantage of the collapse of state control to extend their everyday struggles to secure life chances in their immediate environs—neighborhoods and work sites. This is also a time when they engage in extraordinary mobilization and organized protests to demand collective consumption and recognition as legitimate citizens of the city. Yet in the aftermath of the revolutions, when the new elites show their inability or unwillingness to respond to the rising demands, the subaltern retreat to their strategy of “quiet encroachment,” but with new capability and clout.

Small-town and rural residents in New York’s Hudson Valley joined protests against ICE operations and a proposed detention facility in the region.

In March 2019, German-speaking scientists and scholars calling themselves Scientists for Future, published a statement in support of the youth protesters in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (Fridays for Future, Klimastreik/Climate Strike), verifying the scientific evidence that the youth protestors refer to. In this article, they provide the full text of the statement, including the list of supporting facts (in both English and German) as well as an analysis of the results and impacts of the statement. Furthermore, they reflect on the challenges for scientists and scholars who feel a dual responsibility: on the one hand, to remain independent and politically neutral, and, on the other hand, to inform and warn societies of the dangers that lie ahead.

On Apr 24, 2015, the ruling party Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie -- Forces pour la defense de la democratie designated incumbent Pres Pierre Nkurunziza as its candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections, despite the fact that he had already completed two terms in office. The announcement that Nkurunziza planned to take a third term triggered an unprecedented series of demonstrations in Bujumbura, Burundi's capital city. This briefing sheds light on the trigger of the violence as well as the longer-term context of the ongoing crisis in Burundi.

“The protesters increasingly don’t just want reform, they want to topple the entire theocratic regime,” says the Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran said it received eyewitness accounts and credible reports that hundreds of protesters were killed in Iran amid a blackout.

Public opinion research suggests that rapid and significant individual-level fluctuations in opinions toward various policies is fairly unexpected absent methodological artifacts. While this may generally be the case, some political actions can and do face tremendous backlash, potentially impacting public evaluations. Leveraging broadcast and newspaper transcripts as well as a unique twowave panel study we demonstrate that a non-random, rapid shift in opinions occurred shortly after President Donald Trump signed executive order 13769 into law, which barred individuals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. The ban set off a fury of protests across U.S. cities and airports, garnering tremendous media attention and discussion. Drawing insights from literature on priming, we claim that an influx of new information portraying the “Muslim Ban” at odds with inclusive elements of American identity prompted some citizens to shift their attitudes. Our study highlights the potential broad political effects of mass movements and protests as it pertains to policies that impact racialized minority groups, and suggests that preferences can shift quickly in response to changing political circumstances.