In a Protest Far Far Away: Analyzing the Cross-national Spread of Collective Action through Emotional, Cognitive and Relational Mechanisms

In this dissertation project, I investigate why and how a protest inspires individuals in distinct and distant countries to engage in a similar type of collective action. Studies on the diffusion of protests and social movements often emphasize the importance of geographical proximity, historical, organizational or cultural ties, or the presence of strong activist networks between countries as the factors that facilitate the spread of ideas, frames, identities and repertoires of collective action from one country to another. However, the recent protest waves in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis have significantly challenged these assumptions. The emergence of similar social, economic and political grievances in different contexts, together with the popular use of mobile communication technologies and the increasing role of micro-level actors such as unorganized protesters and local groups, has introduced new pathways and dynamics of the diffusion of collective action. In order to explore the mechanisms of diffusion in the absence of strong activist ties or similarity and proximity factors, I analyze three “least-likely” cases: 1) The connections between the 2013 Protests in Turkey and Brazil (Summer Case), 2) the connections between the 2019 Protests China (Hong Kong) and Spain (Catalonia) (Autumn Case), and 3) the connections between the 2019-2020 Protests in Chile and Turkey (Winter Case). Given the limitations of existing theoretical frameworks in the social movement studies, I employ Grounded Theory Methodology to analyze 61 in-depth interviews with activists, along with fieldwork notes, memos, and various textual and visual materials released by activist networks, organizations, and political parties. The data analysis, conducted using an exploratory and inductive approach, has led to the introduction of three new mechanisms of diffusion of collective action: cathartic resonance, admirative diffusion, and affinitive diffusion. The findings indicate that the perceived contextual and motivational similarities, the cathartic feelings triggered by the shared traumas and moral shocks, and the multilayered resonance and identification process among the activists from different contexts consequently lead to the spread of emotional, behavioral, and ideational components of collective action through adoption and stimulation. By focusing on the emotional, cognitive, and relational dimensions of collective action, which have been often overlooked in previous studies, I aim to propose suggestions for revising and refining the theorization of diffusion from a cultural and agentic perspective.