LOOPS is an ERC-funded research group interested in the logistics of protest camps in autocratic regimes. We focus on the following research questions: Who organizes the basic logistics in protest camps and is this provision a bottom-up process from the population or professionalized support from elites/external actors ? And what impact does this support have on the legitimacy of the protest, possible successful democratization or even autocratic stability? Based on the theoretical analysis of the concept of professionalizing protest logistics, the first comprehensive dataset on basic logistics in protest camps in authoritarian regimes is to be created. The use of a mix of methods is planned that combines automated data collection and classification of social media images with extensive hand-coding and individual case studies. In a second step, the focus is on individual case studies that differ in the degree of professionalization of their respective logistics. And third, LOOPS will test the effects of differences in the level of professionalism and characteristics of protest logistics on autocratic resilience and sustainable democratic development.

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, grant agreement number 101040163. The project start was on April 1, 2023.

Image by Sven Ballenthin