Educating Demonstrators: Education and Mass Protest in Africa

The study finds a positive correlation between education and protest activity across 42 African countries, suggesting that education increases both the motivation to challenge authoritarian regimes and the organizational capacity to stage protests.

• Higher local education levels are positively associated with an increased frequency of mass protest events. Simulation suggests that increasing average education from no education to completed secondary education raises the probability of protest in a given year from approximately 2% to 8%.
• The positive relationship between education and protest is particularly strong in autocratic regimes, supporting the theory that education enhances ideological preferences for democracy and accountable governance.
• Education increases the capacity for collective action by improving communication skills, fostering cooperation, stimulating social networks (specifically 'weak ties'), and creating inter-group solidarity through shared frameworks of reference.
• The study found no evidence that the 'unmet-expectations' or 'J-curve' theory—where education combined with high unemployment spurs protest—is a primary driver in this context.
• Using the historical location of colonial-era Christian missions as an instrumental variable to address endogeneity, the researchers confirmed a causal effect of education on increasing protest incidence.
• Analysis of non-government protests indicates that education increases the likelihood of protests even when they are not aimed at the state, suggesting that education enhances general organizational opportunities rather than just anti-government grievances.

APA

Peace Research Institute Oslo (2017). Educating Demonstrators: Education and Mass Protest in Africa. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4cc90966-4394-4e29-859e-36aeb1d0bb9d/Education_SISTEVERSJON.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Peace Research Institute Oslo. Educating Demonstrators: Education and Mass Protest in Africa. 2017. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4cc90966-4394-4e29-859e-36aeb1d0bb9d/Education_SISTEVERSJON.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Peace Research Institute Oslo |title=Educating Demonstrators: Education and Mass Protest in Africa |date=20 February 2017 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4cc90966-4394-4e29-859e-36aeb1d0bb9d/Education_SISTEVERSJON.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peaceresearchinstituteoslo2017educating, author = {{Peace Research Institute Oslo}}, title = {{Educating Demonstrators: Education and Mass Protest in Africa}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4cc90966-4394-4e29-859e-36aeb1d0bb9d/Education_SISTEVERSJON.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }