The Puzzle of Subnational Patterns of Protest

This chapter introduces the central puzzle that motivates the book: why do some South African communities protest far more frequently than others, despite experiencing similar levels of grievances and resource deprivation? It opens with two contrasting vignettes that highlight this variation and set the stage for the book’s theoretical and empirical contributions. The chapter critiques existing theories of protest for their limited ability to explain this localized variation and introduces the core argument – that a fuller understanding of protest requires attention to the “technology of mobilization.” Specifically, it emphasizes the critical role of protest brokers: intermediaries who connect elites seeking to mobilize protest with communities of potential protesters. In the absence of these brokers, it argues, many elites are unable to leverage the local knowledge, trust, and social networks necessary to mobilize effectively, helping to explain where protest happens. Furthermore, the chapter argues that protest brokers are not a monolithic group; their differences help explain not just whether protests occur, but also how they unfold – shaping variation in protest variety, duration, tactics, and the likelihood of violence. This chapter lays the foundation for the rest of the book.