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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Protest without repression : protest policing and nonviolent resistance in the US

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Activists often identify violent repression, and ensuing backlash, as a key mechanism through which peaceful protests can successfully achieve political change. This view has been affirmed by a body of research showing that the violent repression of protest can raise awareness of and build support for the protesters. And US history has many examples of these repression backlash benefiting protesters, from the Birmingham bus boycotts to the "Bonus Army" March on Washington, to the Kent State shootings. However, in the United States, and in other western democracies, the probability of violent police repression of protests has varied significantly over time, as a result of a multitude of institutional factors. While the impacts of repressed protest have been documented, how peaceful protests fare in the absence of repression is less well-understood.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctoral
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Political Science
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2020

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Dumas, Nicolas K.(Nicolas Kasem)
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Adam J. Berinsky.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130601
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/130601

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
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related terms
citation

Dumas, Nicolas K.(Nicolas Kasem). Protest without repression : protest policing and nonviolent resistance in the US. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/130601