Replication Data for: When does diffusing protest lead to local organization building? Evidence from a comparative subnational study of Russia’s “For fair Elections” movement

Under what conditions do nation-wide mass protests in authoritarian regimes produce new local activist organizations? Based on 65 interviews and over 1000 media reports, internal documents, and social media posts, this study compares the organization building process in the “For Fair Elections” (FFE) protests of 2011/12 across four Russian regions. I argue that mass protests are more likely to leave behind new social movement organizations (SMOs) when the local and the national interact, i.e. when long-standing activists on the ground perceive an opportunity to use the protests for their ongoing local struggles. Where new SMOs are established, their composition, activity pattern, and inner structure follow the tactical and organizational repertoires of veteran activists that were shaped by their local political environments. This argument illuminates the functioning of electoral authoritarian regimes from a subnational perspective and identifies conditions under which a bottom-up challenge to an authoritarian political system can drive local civil society development.

威权政权下的全国性大规模抗议在何种条件下会催生新的地方行动主义组织？本研究基于65次访谈、逾千份媒体报道、内部文件与社交媒体帖文，对比了2011至2012年俄罗斯四个地区的「为公平选举」（For Fair Elections，FFE）抗议活动中的组织建设进程。本研究提出，当地方与全国层面的行动产生互动时——亦即当地长期活跃的行动者察觉到可借抗议活动推进其持续开展的地方抗争时——大规模抗议更有可能催生新的社会运动组织（social movement organizations，SMOs）。在新的社会运动组织得以成立的场景中，其成员构成、活动模式与内部结构，均遵循了由地方政治环境塑造的资深行动者所采用的战术与组织策略。本研究从次国家层面视角阐释了选举型威权政权的运行逻辑，并揭示了自下而上对威权政治体系的挑战推动地方公民社会发展的具体条件。