Abstract:
This article aims to address the relationship between massive protests that occurred in the last decade and the crisis of democracy. It seeks to reflect on the affinities between these phenomena, exploring the format of current protests and some of their consequences. To that end, five cases of protest are analyzed, in Thailand, Egypt, USA, Turkey and Brazil. The text is divided into two parts: i) the first discusses the possibility that the civil society’s action may have consequences that are not democratic; ii) the second presents four dynamics that may connect protests and democratic erosion, basing the analysis on the five cases. The article presents four dynamics through which protests may have contributed to the weakening of democracy in different contexts: the national focus; the opening for the reappearance of authoritarian forces contained in society; the polarization that increases the cost of tolerance; and the strengthening of anti-representation individualism.
Keywords:
crisis of democracy; massive protests; authoritarianism; populism