Economic globalization, inequality, and protest movements under capitalist political regimes, 1970-2007

This article examines the impacts of globalization on protest movements. Highlighting the nature of capitalist political regimes in which capitalist societies and political institutions are deeply interconnected, I argue that the relationship between globalization and protest is profoundly constrained by two domestic conditions: the distribution of material resources and the type of political regime. Based on time-series, cross-sectional (TSCS) data in a global sample for the period 1970-2007, the findings indicate that globalization is more likely to increase protest in egalitarian democracies; globalization is not systematically associated with protest under dictatorships, except in the case of a highly unequal dictatorship in which globalization appears to revitalize protest, and hyperglobalization radically diminishes the possibility of protest, especially in democracies.