UNEQUAL PILLARS Examining Inequality and Protest Among Autocracies

Abstract: The goal of this thesis is to analyze the relationship of economic inequality to protest occurrence alongside other factors across autocratic regimes. Earlier work has done much to explore the diversity of autocracies and their policy outcomes. Others have examined how economic inequality may affect resources and grievances. And the relationship of technology with protest participation has been considered. However these have rarely been examined in unison. The relationship of inequality with protest across autocracies remains under-examined, as do the effects of coercion and technology. I combine these elements into one analysis of autocratic countries between 1990 and 2014. I examine the correlation between inequality and protest events alongside regime categories, the use of coercion, ICT usage among the population, and other variables identified as relevant. In order to investigate these connections, I perform a regression analysis using panel-corrected standard errors. My data is derived from a variety of cross-sectional time-series datasets. My empirical analysis shows that economic inequality and regime type do not appear to be statistically significant overall in their interactions or main effects. According to the data, only regime coercion and ICT penetration show significant relationships with protest. My findings suggest that any impact of economic inequality alone is outweighed by the effects of improved human rights standards and new technologies. Alternatively, they may indicate the importance of other types of inequality or different moderating elements. The significance (or lack thereof) of my findings might also reflect elationships with protest incidents more than their size or longevity.