Democracy Will Never be the Same Again: 21st Century Protest and the Transformation of Politics

Abstract

Since 2011 and the extraordinary events of the Arab Spring we have it seems entered a new phase of protest, revolt and rebellion (Castells 2012; Mason 2013). There will be debates about the degree to which the date itself is significant in terms of providing a marker for developments that have their origin in deep lying phenomena. However there seems to be a degree of consensus amongst interested commentators that the events around the Arab Spring resonated with sufficient force to provoke a ripple effect in terms of sparking rebellions, protests and insurrections across the world. The symbolic occupation of space associated with Tahrir Square quickly became emblematic of a kind of citizen activism then witnessed in Spain, in Occupy Wall Street, in the ‘Pots and Pans Protests’ in Iceland, and more recently in public occupations and protests in Turkey, Bulgaria, Thailand, Brazil and many other locations besides.