Question

how are the riots and protesting globally a present crisis and why is it important to stop?

Answer 1

Major protests have been taking place around the world with increasing frequency since the second half of the 2000s. Given the superficial resemblance of such events to one another especially the dramatic images of the masses of people in the streets there is a temptation to draw broad, general conclusions about what is going on. Yet it is in fact the heterogeneity of this current wave of protests that defines it. The spike in global protests is becoming a major trend in international politics, but care is needed to determine the exact nature and impact of the phenomenon.

The latest wave of protests is caused mainly by economic problems or political decisions, not by transnational issues such as globalisation, which have given rise to previous protests. Long-term triggers that make it possible. New information and communication technologies, troubled democratic transitions and democratic declines, economic change and the growth of civil society organizations have created a global environment for protests.

Having an objective handle on this wave of protests is important for policymakers and political observers. Yet a lack of deep understanding and, in some cases, active misunderstanding is evident in some Western media and analytical accounts of these events. Protests tend to mimic one another in several fundamental ways, and this facilitates clear analogies through very different contexts. These are photogenic events that naturally attract intense media attention at peak moments. This attention fades quickly as protests pass, leaving differences in motivations, implications, and outcomes insufficiently examined.

Again, the true picture is one of heterogeneity. The political results of major protests in recent years have produced a wide range of results: no noticeable impact; no change in the formal political system, but long-term shifts in public mentality that could presage future political changes; the overthrow of the regime and at least an attempted process of democratic change; something similar to a democratic revolution; an anti-democratic coup; a prolonged civil war; Although some protest movements have also begun the task of transforming protest energy into sustained political action, others have made progress in this respect.