Global and National Sources of Political Protest: Third World Responses to the Debt Crisis

In recent years internationalfinancial institutions have required Third World debtor countries to adopt various austerity policies designed to restore economic viability and ensure debt repayment. The hardships created by these policies have provoked unprecedented protests in debtor countries, ranging from mass demonstrations to organized strikes and riots. We examine variation among Third World debtor countries in the presence and severity of protests against austerity policies. Results show that the principal conditions for the occurrence and severity of austerity protests are overurbanization and involvement of international agencies in domestic political-economic policy. We offer a theoretical interpretation that integrates global and national sources of contemporary political protest in the Third World.