Defining and Explaining Modes of Protesting: A Comparative-Historical Analysis of Argentina and Chile

Abstract We propose a novel conceptualization of predominant national “modes of protesting” to explain how the act of protest expresses historically specific forms of organizational intermediation. Using an original survey of demonstrators, we show that in the 2020s protesting in Argentina is primarily a collective and organic dynamic, while in Chile, it is commonly fragmented and privatized. To explain this contrast, we present historical narratives that focus on the length of the authoritarian regime and how the double transition to neoliberal economy and liberal democracy was pursued in each country, having the different sequence and timing of these processes diametrically opposite effects in the national modes of protesting. The collapse of the authoritarian regime and a division in democratic elites on the direction taken by the double transition may explain Argentina’s collective and organic national mode of protesting. The scattered sequence of pendular reforms that divided the political establishment in two projects and the disconnected timing of authoritarian repressive periods and neoliberal reforms may explain the preservation of a resilient movement-based tradition that had deeply penetrated Argentine society. Instead, in Chile, the modification of the national mode of protesting was a result of a constant sequence of reforms and a connected timing of authoritarianism and neoliberalism that destroyed 1970s organic networks, and a neoliberal democracy that kept the population weak and territorially fragmented, while a cohesive and insulated political establishment neutralized any reformist impetus. We discuss how the concept of modes of protesting opens a research agenda with implications for many countries and world regions.