Adam Taylor from the Washington Post (4 November 2021) offers a thoughtful review of a new study (“World Protests: A Study of Key Protest Issues in the 21st Century,” from a team of researchers with German think tank Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University ) which demonstrates that the scale and scope of global protests have tripled since 2006 – see Figure and map below. More than half the protests worldwide were due to perceived failures of democratic governance and demands for enhanced political representation. Others pertain to corruption, inequality, lack of decent jobs and working conditions, poor living standards, and lack of action on climate change. So far, politicians across the world have not responded satisfactorily to these concerns. This implies that such protests are likely to continue to the detriment of social cohesion.
Reflections on development and governance 