Short Abstract

This panel examines how protest and social mobilization (re)shape political orders across Africa, turning grievances over livelihoods and services into broader claims about justice, citizenship, and governance, while tracing state responses and the changing politics of dissent, power, and reform.

Long Abstract

This panel studies how contentious politics and social mobilization (re)shape political orders across Africa. In a wide spectrum of African contexts, disputes over wages, subsidies, pensions, housing, education, healthcare, food prices, transportation and public services often surpass their sectoral origins. They operate as sites of politicization through which dissent is articulated, broader critiques of existing political and economic order are formulated and distributive grievances are transformed into demands about the nature of the state itself. Theoretically we argue that protest studies ought to be perceived as an integral component of a broader domain of political conflict where institutions, resources, identities, and public discourses are perpetually challenged. Social and economic structures affect the types of dissent accessible to individuals, the alliances they can create, and the objectives they select; conversely, protest modifies policy priorities, transforms state-society dynamics, and reconfigures the parameters of citizenship and governance. This panel invites contributions that speak to (one of and not limited to the) following questions: Under what circumstances do political and economic grievances transform into collective mobilizations? In what manner do social stakeholders convert their experiences of volatility into clear appeals for social equity? How do governments respond to protest mobilisations? What are the implications for the sustainability of social protection systems and the legitimacy of political power? The panel aims to produce a multifaceted interpretation of modern Africa, where social disputes illuminate wider changes in democratic government, statehood, and equitable distribution.

Propose paper