Defending Stability under Threat: Sensitive Periods and the Repression of Protest in Urban China

Autor(en)

Heinz Christoph Steinhardt

Abstrakt

How does the elevated threat of protests during sensitive periods affect state repression in a high-capacity authoritarian regime? Drawing on a dataset of over 3,100 protests in three Chinese megacities, this study provides three key findings: first, the frequency of protests before and during national-level focal events and subsequent to national-level disruptive events is depressed, suggesting preemptive repression is taking place. Second, the likelihood of responsive repression is marginally reduced before and during local-level focal events and slightly elevated after national-level disruptive events. Third, contention is intensified when local political elites meet. Sensitive periods do not bring contention to a standstill and costly bursts of responsive repression were not observed. Stability maintenance during times of increased regime-vulnerability was thus less rigid than often assumed.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften

Journal

Journal of Contemporary China

Band

30

Seiten

526-549

Anzahl der Seiten

24

ISSN

1067-0564

Publikationsdatum

2020

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

506006 Friedensforschung, 506008 Konfliktforschung, 504023 Politische Soziologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Geography, Planning and Development, Development, Political Science and International Relations

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/812fcdda-4dac-46ed-aac3-a8b5f4ec3c45