Replication Data for: A Structural Account of Protest Occurrence – Evidence from the US

The occurrence of protests is regularly linked to a variety of structural conditions, i.e., socio-political characteristics. These are usually quantified using proxy or multiple variables. However, these approaches complicate comparing effect sizes and investigating interdependencies. In this paper, I address these pitfalls by objectively quantifying four structural conditions -- grievances, resources, political opportunities, and personalities -- using principal component analysis on the US county level from 2017 to 2021. The quantification allows for constructing a model with interaction terms, enabling the investigation of each structural condition's effect individually and in a given context. The results are threefold: (1) Resources have the largest effect on protests, followed by personalities, political opportunities, and grievances. (2) Context greatly influences how structural conditions impact protests; e.g., grievances have a substantially larger effect when political opportunities exist. (3) Grievances increase the chance of violent protests, while personalities and political opportunities foster nonviolent protests.