The Effect of Mass Protest on Attitudes toward Democracy: new data and evidence from Colombia

Abstract

Sociology and political science scholars have long debated the impacts of protest. Contributing to scholarship in the attitudinal consequences of protest, I examine how mass protest affects attitudes toward democracy in Colombia from 2010 to 2013. I develop and introduce the PEC dataset and match it with the latinobarómetro survey georeferenced at sub-national levels (departments). My results show that the size and diversity (number of identities) of protests, have a significant effect in support for democracy. Using statistical analyses, I find that larger and more diverse protests increase the likelihood of people supporting democracy. Descriptive statistics and qualitative work illustrate protests’ dynamics in Colombia. These findings show how prodemocratic protests in a non-mature democracy can increase the support for democracy by affecting peoples beliefs