A Game Model of Social Protest

Abstract

Social protest is an important means for a political minority to achieve a greater role in the decision making of a country. History has shown that effective protests result in varied outcomes, with some being peaceful and others violent. This paper considers the role that public sympathy for a protest movement has in explaining why these demonstrations are peaceful or violent events. A game model is constructed that considers how a government responds to a demonstration and the subsequent response by protestors. Peaceful demonstrations by protestors are more likely when the public sympathy for the protest movement is high. The government strategically avoids creating martyrs of the protestors by avoiding the use of harsh policing tactics against the protestors. These results work in reverse when public sympathy for the protest movement is low.