Willingness to take part in demonstrations depends on group size

The size of one's own group motivates protestors more than the number of counter-demonstrators / interdisciplinary study of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. The expected number of participants at a rally is decisive for people's willingness to participate in left-wing or right-wing political protest. Counter-demonstrations, on the other hand, do not motivate demonstrators to protest more strongly. That is the result of a study by an interdisciplinary team of political scientists and economists led by Professor Christopher Roth of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the University of Cologne. The researchers thus refute the widespread assumption that opposing political groups incite each other at demonstrations, which is often conveyed in the media. The study will appear in the American Political Science Review and is part of a series of publications by Roth and his team on strategic interaction in political activism. Whenever right-wing or populist groups in Germany such as the so-called Querdenker (a mixed group critical of restrictions enacted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic), 'Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident' (Pegida), or supporters of the party Alternative for Germany (AfD) announce a demonstration, the opposing side quickly announces one as well.