Perspectives on Protest in Western Europe

Abstract

This chapter deals with the long and usually lamentable progression in European affairs from constant warfare of states at the will of state leaders to the eventual growth of public voices that could, with increasing effectiveness, oppose the resort to war. The earliest writing on this matter, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, outlined almost all the major issues that are relevant to the issue of war and the fate of those who object to it. From the days of the Roman Empire, through its breakup and the emergence of the modern national state, resort to war had been an unquestioned tool of statecraft. Only with mass war and the targeting of civilian populations that now, however, had an increasing voice in the councils of government did principled or popular opposition to war begin to have an effective impact on resort to war.

This chapter reports on perspectives on the right to protest in a sample of 379 participants from France, Germany, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. All participants provided qualitative responses to two open-ended items on the right to protest in the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Survey (PAIRTAPS); 95 % of responses supported an individual’s right to protest against war and in favor of peace. In addition, approximately 85 % of the responses to a scenario item indicated a desire to take action if the participant saw police beating peaceful protestors.

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