Publication
Inclusive Economy
Rethinking Multilateralism

World Protests Study

As protests are on the rise, people across the globe demand human rights, decent living standards, and real democracy.

Free E-Book | Interactive Website | Online Discussion

World Protests: A Study of Key Protest Issues in the 21st Century examines nearly three thousand protests between 2006-2020 in 101 countries, and offers unique insights into the major grievances, demands, demographics, methods, and outcomes of protest movements in the 21^st century.

The study shows that the overwhelming majority of protests around the world are peaceful and advance reasonable demands. Protesters want human rights, decent living standards, democracy, and a voice in the decisions that impact their quality of life. However, a comparatively small but worrying trend of protests seeking to deny rights to other groups can also be observed, especially alongside protests for personal freedoms, against the “deep state” and for patriotism and sovereignty.

World Protests is available as a free e-book via Palgrave Macmillan and accompanied by an interactive website, which allows visitors to access the comprehensive catalog of protests around the world underpinning the research project.

A joint project by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University, the study was launched with an online discussion featuring a distinguished panel of thought leaders and activists.

The study received widespread media attention and was discussed in both US as well as international press, including in the Washington Post, Daily Mail, Mediapart, La Crónica de Hoy, LA NACION, and others.

Executive summaries of the World Protests study are now available in 8 languages: