Predictors of Individual Participation in Social Protest Actions in Ecuador in 2018–21

This chapter empirically evaluates the predictors of individual protest behaviour in the political context of Ecuador. The study has a repeated cross-sectional design based on data from the years 2018, 2019 and 2021, which make up an important period of social agitation and mobilisation, with the social unrest of October 2019 as its epicentre. The aggregate sample consisted of 3, 264 adults from the city of Quito, Ecuador. The analytical strategy consisted of building hierarchical regression models in order to assess the explanatory capacity of a variety of theoretical perspectives relevant to the phenomenon of political protest. The results show that structural availability is the perspective that most explains protest behaviour, with political group membership (political parties, traditional social movements, new social movements) and online exposure to mobilisation attempts as significant predictors. Second in importance, grievance theory has a moderate explanatory capacity with the significant predictors: negative emotions, external political efficacy and democracy support; as well as the political engagement approach with the significant predictors: political interest and internal political efficacy. Finally, both the biographical availability approach and the theory of planned behaviour provide only one significant predictor, age and subjective norms respectively. Regarding the control variables, men are more likely to protest than women. The final section discusses the findings, establishing a profile of individual propensity to protest for the context of Ecuador.