UC San Diego

This thesis examines how the protest tactics utilized in the Chilean Student Movements (2011–2015) are contingent on the state actions. It seeks to provide what is lacking in current literature by including a more nuanced typology of state responses (i.e. toleration, concession and repression) and a more precise conceptualization of protest forms which measures four dimensions: the level of disruption, the level of violence, the level of innovation, and the escalation of protest demands. Based on a content analysis of the news archives in La Nación and El Mercurio, Facebook posts of the Confederación de Estudiantes de Chile (Confech), and interviews data, this thesis presents the pattern of variance in protest tactics. When the government was unresponsive, or vacillating, students tended to innovate and escalate their demands, increasing media publicity and social influence. Facing repression, the students tended to legitimize their actions by adopting conventional performances that would arouse historical memories of the dictatorship and by limiting their demands. Under concession, to effectively exploit the opportunity for dialogue, students showed less interest in innovation and they made radical claims to counter the threat of co-optation. The thesis further illustrates the causal mechanism considering the agency of protesters. It argues that the students framed the changing political context as a combination of political opportunity and threat. From their perspective, state toleration, repression, and concession respectively challenge as well as create the opportunity to increase the visibility, legitimacy, and efficiency of the students’ actions. In response to the changing political context, the protesters adjust their tactics in order to strategically mobilize people and urge government concessions.