"Together We Are Strong": Exploring Regional Protest During Moments of Mass Mobilisation in Ukraine and Belarus

如何解释抗议动员在一个国家不同地区和人口中的扩散？激励“普通”公民加入抗议活动的口号和符号是如何跨越时空的？他们在动员过程中扮演什么角色？我提出的研究以乌克兰的“欧盟独立广场”（EuroMaidan）为例，探讨了这些更广泛的困惑。该项目涉及有争议的政治文学中的辩论，也涉及政治动员、行为和交流研究中的更广泛问题。首先，我将检验Snow和Benford（1992; 1988）提出的关于动员框架如何解释抗议扩散的理论，以及Meyer和Tarrow（1998）提出的关于文化在集体认同形成中的作用的理论。我认为，标语和符号可以被理解为抗议者构建不满和诉求的一种方式，并因此受到Snow等人（1986）概述的桥梁、放大、延伸和创造过程的影响。人们越来越意识到文化和身份在社会运动形成中的重要性（Meyer and Tarrow 1998; Steinberg 2002; Tarrow 2004）。Cerulo（1995）在她关于国家象征的作品中反思了社会运动。Snow和Benford（1988）强调了历史文化符号曲目的重要性，其他人则强调了符号生成的当代背景（Cerulo 1995; Kolst 2006）。然而，很少有作品关注、追踪和追溯符号和口号在抗议动员扩散中的作用。通过使用定性和定量工具，我的研究建议通过对抗议运动的口号和符号的详细探索，以及它们在构建不满、动员个人和解释其扩散方面所起的作用，来弥补这一点。此外，本文还对EuroMaidan的具体文献做出了贡献，这些文献侧重于：抗议者的身份（Onuch 2014），抗议者和目标的多样性（Onuch和Sasse 2016），他们的价值观（Shestakovskyi 2015），激进右翼的角色（Shekhovstov和Umland 2014），以及乌克兰民族主义和身份认同的发展（Kulyk 2016）。然而，无论是地区性的Maidans，还是口号和符号，在学术研究中都没有特别提到。因此，该项目解决了两个关键的研究空白。

What accounts for diffusion of protest mobilization across diverse regions and populations of a country? How do slogans and symbols that motivate 'ordinary' citizens to join protests travel across space and time? And what role do they play in the mobilization process? My proposed research speaks to these broader puzzles, employing the case of Ukraine's EuroMaidan.This project speaks to debates in contentious politics literature and also to broader questions in the study of political mobilization, behaviour and communication. Primarily, I will test theories put forth by Snow and Benford (1992; 1988) on how mobilizational frames account for protest diffusion, and Meyer and Tarrow (1998) on the role of culture in collective identity formation. I propose that slogans and symbols can be understood as a way in which protesters frame grievances and claims, and accordingly are subject to the processes of bridging, amplification, extension and creation outlined by Snow et al (1986). Awareness has been growing of the importance of culture and identity in social movement formation (Meyer and Tarrow 1998 ; Steinberg 2002, Tarrow 2004) . Cerulo (1995) reflects on social movements in her work on national symbols. Snow and Benford (1988) highlight the importance of the historic-cultural symbolic repertoire, and others emphasise the contemporary context of symbol generation (Cerulo 1995; Kolst 2006) . However, few works focus on, track and trace the role of symbols and slogans in the diffusion of protest mobilization. Using qualitative and quantitative tools, my research proposes to remedy this through a detailed exploration of the slogans and symbols of a protest movement, and the role they play in framing grievances, mobilizing individuals, and accounting for its diffusion.Moreover, this thesis contributes to the EuroMaidan specific literature which focuses on: protesters' identities (Onuch 2014) , the diversity of protesters and aims (Onuch and Sasse 2016) , their values (Shestakovskyi 2015) , the radical right's role (Shekhovstov and Umland 2014) , and developments in Ukrainian nationalism and identity (Kulyk 2016) . However, neither regional Maidans, nor slogans and symbols, are specifically addressed in scholarship. Therefore this project addresses two key research gaps.