Protest Policing in Pandemic-Ridden Europe

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

- to introduce and explain the relationships between the police and protesters in European states during the pandemic;
- to introduce and account for the differences and similarities between those relationships;
- to introduce methodological and theoretical approaches useful to analyze the policing of protest;
- to show how to determine consequences of the policing of protests.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

- basic knowledge of social movements;
- competence to analyze news critically;
- competence to deal with research problems;
- command of English.

Syllabus

1. Introduction: Towards Understanding of Civil Disorder during the Pandemic

1.1. Presentation of course requirements and policies

1.2. Selection of presentation topics for next weeks

1.3. Introductory lecture about approaching the dynamics of civil disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1–53.

 

2. Estonian Proactive Policing: Balancing Negotiated Management and Neutrality to Prevent Civil Disorder

2.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Estonia during the pandemic

2.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

2.3. The outcome of protest policing

2.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

2.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 57–74.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Estonia.

 

3. Unintended Consequences of Hybrid Protest Policing for Managing Civil Disorder in Latvia

3.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Latvia during the pandemic

3.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

3.3. The outcome of protest policing

3.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

3.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 75–99.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Latvia.

 

4. Lithuania: Leveraging Negotiated Management and Non-Partisan Policing

4.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Lithuania during the pandemic

4.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

4.3. The outcome of protest policing

4.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

4.5. Conclusions

 

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 100–128.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Lithuania.

 

5. Poland: Application of Partisan Policing and Negotiated Management in the Face of Civil Disorder

5.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Poland during the pandemic

5.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

5.3. The outcome of protest policing

5.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

5.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 129–164.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Poland.

 

6. Czech Law Enforcement and the Benefits of Neutrality and Limited Intervention

6.1. Context and characteristics of protests in the Czech Republic during the pandemic

6.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

6.3. The outcome of protest policing

6.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

6.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 165–192.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Czechia.

 

7. Slovakia: Detentions, Force, and the Shift from Peaceful Protest to Civil Disorder

7.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Slovakia during the pandemic

7.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

7.3. The outcome of protest policing

7.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

7.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 193–224.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Slovakia.

 

8. The Role of Hungarian Predictable Negotiated Management and Non-Partisan Policing in Maintaining Peaceful Protests

8.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Hungary during the pandemic

8.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

8.3. The outcome of protest policing

8.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

8.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 225–246.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Hungary.

 

9. Inconsistent Law Enforcement in Romania: Civil Disorder Under Force-, Management-Based Hybrid, and Escalated Force Protest Policing

9.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Romania during the pandemic

9.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

9.3. The outcome of protest policing

9.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

9.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 247–270.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Romania.

 

10. The Impact of Hidden Partisanship and Policing Countermovement Violence on the Dynamics of Civil Disorder in Bulgaria

10.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Bulgaria during the pandemic

10.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

10.3. The outcome of protest policing

10.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

10.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 271–295.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Bulgaria.

 

11. Civil Disorder Dynamics in Slovenia: Protest Policing Resistant to Political Influences

11.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Slovenia during the pandemic

11.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

11.3. The outcome of protest policing

11.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

11.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 296–326.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Slovenia.

 

12. Cohesive Law Enforcement: Sustaining Peaceful Protests through Negotiated Management and Apolitical Policing in Croatia

12.1. Context and characteristics of protests in Croatia during the pandemic

12.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

12.3. The outcome of protest policing

12.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

12.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 327–345.

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Croatia.

 

13. The Dynamics of Civil Disorder in Other European States during the Pandemic

13.1. Context and characteristics of protests in selected states during the pandemic

13.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

13.3. The outcome of protest policing

13.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

13.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Literature selected by students.

+ News concerning protests in selected European states during the pandemic.

 

14. The Dynamics of Civil Disorder in Other European States during the Pandemic

14.1. Context and characteristics of protests in selected states during the pandemic

14.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

14.3. The outcome of protest policing

14.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

14.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Literature selected by students.

+ News concerning protests in selected European states during the pandemic.

 

15. The Dynamics of Civil Disorder in Other European States during the Pandemic

15.1. Context and characteristics of protests in selected states during the pandemic

15.2. The conditions of civil disorder development (police partisanship, dimensions and models of protest policing)

15.3. The outcome of protest policing

15.4. Causal relationships between police behaviour and civil disorder

15.5. Conclusions

 

Reading materials:

Literature selected by students.

+ News concerning protests in selected European states during the pandemic.

 

Course requirements and policies:

 

1. Class attendance and participation: Class attendance is required for this course. If you must miss, come out early or arrive late to a class for any reason, please let me know in advance. Everyone is expected to come to class prepared and participate actively in class discussion. This participation is to be based on an informed familiarity and thoughtful engagement with the assigned reading.

 

2. Credit: Everyone is expected to deliver an oral presentation on a selected topic during the course. Using AI-based tools to prepare presentations is not allowed for this course. There is no exam.

 

Reading list

Della Porta, Donatella. 2022. Contentious Politics in Emergency Critical Junctures: Progressive Social Movements During the Pandemic. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Della Porta, Donatella. 2022. “Social Movements in the Emergence of a Global Pandemic.” In Social Movements and Policing during Covid-19: Crisis, Solidarity and Change in a Global Pandemic, edited by Breno Bringel and Geoffrey Pleyers, 131–133. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Ellefsen, Rune. 2021. “The Unintended Consequences of Escalated Repression.” Mobilisation: An International Journal 26(1): 87–108. https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-26-1-87.

Kowalewski, Maciej. 2021. “Street Protests in Times of COVID-19: Adjusting Tactics and Marching ‘As Usual’.” Social Movement Studies 20(6): 758–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2020.1843014.

Martin, Greg. 2021. “Protest, Policing and Law during COVID-19: On the Legality of Mass Gatherings in a Health Crisis.” Alternative Law Journal 46 (4): 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969X211029963.

Mead, David. 2021. “Policing Protest in a Pandemic.” King’s Law Journal 32(1): 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/09615768.2021.1885323.

Rak, Joanna. 2024. Pandemic-Era Civil Disorder in Post-Communist EU Member States. London and New York: Routledge.

Sheldon, David. 2021. “Policing the Pandemic: Maintaining Compliance and Legitimacy During Covid-19.” King’s Law Journal 32(1): 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09615768.2021.1889809.

 

+ News concerning protests in pandemic-ridden Europe.