The Role of Political Communication in Protest Mobilization

This article aims primarily to explain the manner in which political communication is able to influence the decision to start a protest under conditions of dictatorship. The role of mass media and several communication channels in an oppressed society is connected to the phenomenon of priming—or activation of latent mental representations by an external stimulating factor, for triggering certain attitudes or behaviors. Focus is set on the 1989 anti-communist revolution in Timişoara, Romania. The qualitative methods are based on analyzing data from 30 semi-structured interviews with former participants in the demonstrations. Results reveal that, in an illiberal society, alternative sources of information and emotional experiences, activated by an external stimulation and supported by social contagion, are significant factors for protest mobilization. Future research can take the military environment into account and investigate combatants’ reactions to adversaries in relation to political communication, contagion, and priming.