Experimental Evidence from Belgium on Local Politicians’ Engagement with Protests

Abstract

When do politicians react responsively to protesters demands? I argue that politicians react responsively to protests they anticipate their voters to support — peaceful, large, and actionable protests. In an experiment with Belgian local politicians (N = 1003), I randomize protest scenarios that vary how peaceful and large protests are, and how actionable protesters’ demand is. Results show that peaceful protests prompt the most responsive reactions, whereas large protests are more limited to influencing a party’s agenda. However, among politicians who perceive protesters as their voters (in this case leftwing politicians), moderately disruptive actions still prompt politicians to listen to protesters’ demands. Whether demands are formulated in an actionable way does not affect politicians’ reactions when compared to abstract demands. This study contributes to understanding when and how politicians are responsive to their constituents in the case of protests and shows that being peaceful shapes politicians’ incentives to react responsively.