Protests have been important social phenomena for the wider Middle East, especially since the Arab Spring, with the potential to achieve dramatic change. Understanding the nature of uprisings in the region is important for our understanding of the present and the future. To this end, this thesis tried to make sense of the dynamics and processes that led to the emergence of three protests in the region, the 25th of January Revolution in Egypt, the Syrian Uprising, and the Gezi protest. It tried to analyze the different aspects in which they were comparable. Furthermore, it tried to analyze their representation in the media by uncovering the differences and similarities between the discourse of two Turkish newspapers, Sabah and Cumhuriyet, in their columns and news reports regarding these instances of protests. Critical discourse analysis was used alongside comparative case study to see the differences between social reality and the discourse of the newspapers. Also, the thesis tried to explain the discrepancies and commonalities between the discourse of the newspapers. When the protests were compared with the help of the existing literature, it was seen that the protests had some similarities in the aspects such as causes of protest, the performance of the protestors, and state reaction. Moreover,...

The respective master's thesis examines the relationship between frames and narratives and how they resonate with images on social media. In the present thesis I research how Israel Defense Forces framed the protests in Gaza also known as the Great March of Return from 30 March 2018 to 30 March of 2019 on Twitter. While analyzing the twitter account of Israel Defense Forces, I apply Entman's (1993) elements of framing and identify broader strategic narratives that Israel currently employs. The broader strategic narratives include "Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East"; "Israel as a startup nation" and "Israel as the leader in combating Islamic terrorism". In the theoretical part I also reflect on previous research and studies engaging with social media and its use by militaries. In the analytical part I identify individual frames that Israel Defense Forces have repeatedly employed during the protests in the respective timeframe. Each frame is accompanied by visual content and if available by the strategic narratives.

This paper aims to analyze NFL's stance and approach towards racial issues since Colin Kaepernick's protest in 2016. Colin Kaepernick is an African American athlete who started to protest against racial and social injustice by kneeling before NFL games when the national anthem was played. His protests caused many controversies because many people saw his actions as disrespectful towards the military, flag, national anthem and towards the USA. NFL's stance is analyzed through a qualitative content analysis of all NFL statements, which were issued since the beginning of Kaepernick's protest until the end of 2020. The statements are analyzed by use of the critical race theory, which focuses on the topic of race, white supremacy and institutionalized and hidden racism. The results of the analysis are that NFL's stance towards racial issues changed substantially. In 2016 and 2017, the primary concern of the NFL was the form of Kaepernick's protest as it was understood as a disrespectful and un-American act. In these years, NFL was trying to have a discussion with players about the causes of the protests, however, its primary concern was the form of Kaepernick's protest. In 2018, NFL briefly introduced a set of rules, which prohibited players from taking a knee during the national anthem while being on...

In a time of decreasing participation in party politics across Europe, both protests and deliberation can be studied as means of expressing political opinion that have not seen the same decline. Traditionally, protests and deliberation have been considered mutually exclusive. This notion has later been challenged, indicating that these factors coexist in democratic societies.The aim of this thesis is to get a better understanding of the complex causal relationship between protests and deliberative democracy in 30 European countries. This is investigated through the following research question: Do countries with high levels of protest activity also have high levels of deliberative democracy? Two contradicting hypotheses are established, where one considers protests and deliberation to be mutually exclusive while the second hypothesisconsiders them to be coexisting factors in democratic countries. To test the hypotheses, correlation matrices and regression analysis are used, adding relevant control variables (GDP per capita, population and income distribution) to the model. The results imply that protests and deliberation are not mutually exclusive, instead countries with higher levels of protest activity also have higher deliberation. However, this does not appear to be because protests itself drive deliberation, but rather that a confounding variable, measuring the percentage of national income that the bottom 40% holds, drives both protests and deliberation positively. The implications underline the importance of a more even income distribution to foster both more protests and higher deliberation. Further research to continue investigating these findings is encouraged.

Protests constitute one of the most important means for citizens to raise key issues on the social agenda and express marginalised voices, in which an important factor to spread their message is attracting mass media coverage. However, previous research has repeatedly found that the mass media delegitimizes protests and focus on the protest event itself rather than the issues behind it. Meanwhile, the role of alternative media on digital platforms is growing stronger. Given this background, this study sets out to answer how U.S. mainstream- and alternative media depicts three protests in Latin America in 2019 and how they potentially differ in their depiction of these protests. More specifically, the study aims to find if the media portrays protests in a negative manner, and if so, how it is done. These questions are analysed through postcolonialism and the protest paradigm theory, which suggests that the media delegitimize protests through certain ways of describing the protest events. Through a critical discourse analysis of 36 articles in total, this study finds that both the mainstream- and alternative media largely adheres to the protest paradigm. It is found that violent aspects of the protests are often in focus, as well as an absence of lifting the structural issues that the protesters want to lift. However, exceptions that deviate from the theory are found as well, indicating that the protest paradigm alone may not be sufficient to explain the complexities behind the media’s coverage of protest events.

This study is set out to conduct a comparative analysis of mainstream and alternative media to understand how The Cape Times mainstream newspaper and GroundUp alternative online media outlet framed the 2017 “service delivery protests” in Cape Town, South Africa. Scholarly literature has demonstrated that the mainstream media marginalises the voices of certain communities and that the alternative media can fill this gap. Often, marginalised communities use protests to attract media coverage, as a way of reaching both the public and elected officials. Ultimately, numerous protest groups find it difficult to get the attention they desire, while news coverage of the social conflict is framed within a protests paradigm. The study analyses differences in the two media outlets’ coverage of social conflict, including the use of delegitimising devices such as the prominent use of official sources for quotes, while using dramatic frames that tend to ridicule protest action and portray them as violent. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in a multimethod approach. The data was found in the SA Media news clippings database, supplemented by searches on Google and the GroundUp search engines. Coverage of the protest in GroundUp was in line with the literature, which states that the horizontal nature, bottom-up and fluid traditions of alternative media may be a more appropriate conduit for protest communications and social movement (Van De Donk et al, 2004; Dahlberg, 2007). The key finding of this study was that the mainstream Cape Times deviated from the protest paradigm, using the protesters as sources in preference to officials. This finding is a departure from the reviewed literature, which indicated that the mainstream media has a habit of following the protest paradigm when covering protests events, marginalising and dehumanising protesters and relying on official sources (Mcleod & Hertog, 1999). It also links to previous scholarship that has established a strong connection between the commercialisation of the media and the robust representation of official sources in the media.

Social movements have increased as a way of supporting groups in their protests. This study addressed what factors led to the mobilization of the Green March movement in its fight against political corruption and impunity in the Dominican Republic. The purpose of this case study was to explore the Green March movement's actions by using Meyer's conceptualization of political opportunity theory. The research questions addressed what factors led to the mobilization of the Green March movement and what strategies and tactics were used. The research design was a qualitative, instrumental case study and data were collected through interviews with 12 members of the Green March movement. These data were transcribed, inductively coded, and then subjected to Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis procedure. Findings of the study supported the undergoing political opportunities by the Green March movement within the political structure of the Dominican government. There were 3 key themes that emerged from this study indicating the conditions for mobilizations to happen such as tolerance by the government, powerful methods to communicate grievances and concerns, and the lack of a repressive governmental system. Finally, the findings help explain political openness and the curvilinear relationship between political corruption and mobilizations of the Green March movement. If political reforms are achieved because of the movement, the country's political system may transform from treating politics as a business to treating politics as a social service to promote the common good. Therefore, this study's findings can lead to positive social change by providing more information on the Green March movement and what makes it successful for the Dominican people.

For the purpose of probing into why there is an enormous cognitive bias amongst Mainland China citizens and Hong Kong citizens. This study used quantitative content analysis as the research tool to figure out how mainstream media outlets in Mainland China and Hong Kong frame Hong Kong protest events since the British sovereignty transfer in 1997. This paper selected three significant Hong Kong protest events as empirical cases, 1 July protest (2003), Occupy Central movement (2014), Anti-Extradition Bill movement (2019) to find out the transformation between two media outlets, Xinhua News and South China Morning Post. Framing theory, as the conceptual framework is applied to analyze all selected textual contents in this study. The result of this analysis presents two different versions of media report towards the same issues by two media outlets. And also, the research results also detect a subtle transformation of media coverage in three protest events. Eventually, the paper provides some thinking about media coverage and Hong Kong protest. Keywords: Hong Kong, media coverage, social protest, media, internal security

This paper investigates the role of artificial light as a tool for spread a political message, focusing on Brazilian political scenario. Given the recent context of the weakening of many democratic institutions around the world together with Covid-19 pandemic, new ways of protesting have been transforming the character of political demonstrations. The aim is to identify which tools are being used in Brazil for this purpose and to comprehend what is the future of light protests. First, an analysis of how light has been incorporated into political art is briefly described. Then, some recent political protests around the world in which light was used in different ways are presented. After an overview of the use of light in contemporaneity, the research focus on Brazilian protest scene using three light tools: drones, lasers and projectors.  The research methodology is conducted through case studies of works by five artists combined with interviews with artists, projection collectives and academic experts. The results show that the pandemic in Brazil along with political mismanagement, triggered a massive wave of projections throughout the country. What before the pandemic had already gained strength, after the year 2020 took on a larger dimension. As a result, projections became popular to the extent that workshops were held in low-income communities to teach people how to build projectors with flashlights and paper. Another aspect raised during the research is that lasers have taken hold and tend to become more popular in the coming years. There is no Brazilian national legislation for the use of lasers, projectors and drones in cities during protest situations, as the laws are in each individual state. Given this growth in the use of these lighting tools, a national law may be created.

The purpose of this study is to attempt to answer if, and if so, which phase of the democratization process Iran is in, and what the country’s prerequisites for democracy look like. The study is a qualitative case study and is mainly based on Dankwart Rustow’s transition theory, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison’s social movement theory and Sharon E. Nepstad’s theory about revolutions and non-violent movements. I also present Robert A. Dahl’s polyarchy theory to explain the overarching definition of democracy the study is based on and to find out the level of democracy in the Iranian society. The primary purpose is thus to present if, and if so, which phase has been fulfilled, according to Rustow’s transition theory. I will also present the social movements in the context of the ongoing protests and if and how social media has had an impact. Iran does almost fulfil the two first phases in Rustow’s transition theory, and the social movements can be interpreted as mostly nonviolent, which is a normal way to go to reach a democratic transition. But with the empirical basis it seems that the state is not interested in talks and use violent methods against the protesters. Certain democratic principles are followed, but these at limited through a complex system which almost completely limits the possibility to fulfil Dahl’s institutions. Being located among authoritarian states doesn’t neither improve the possibilities for a democratic transition, and despite a more united population than before it can be stated, due to a excluding opposition, that an Iranian democracy is out of reach and the underlying reasons are mainly due ethnic, religious and political differences. / <p>2023-06-09</p>