military response to protest

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Military response to protest is the intervention of a state’s military in mass demonstrations of political dissent.

Protests are sometimes contained by protest policing. When police forces are unable to contain protests, state leaders are likely to call on the military to intervene.

Armies ordered to intervene in domestic protests may obey orders, refuse to intervene, or intervene conditionally.

In protests against authoritarian rule, a military’s choice to defend the incumbent regime or defect from the ruling party is the single largest variable predicting the success or failure of the protest movement—although no single variable determines the outcome of any social movement.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Terence |title=Defect or defend: military responses to popular protests in authoritarian Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Johns Hopkins university press |isbn=978-1-4214-1516-1 |location=Baltimore (Md.)}}{{Cite journal |last=Pion-Berlin |first=David |last2=Aćacio |first2=Igor |date=2022-01-01 |title=Explaining Military Responses to Protests in Latin American Democracies |url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cuny/cp/2022/00000054/00000002/art00003 |journal=Comparative Politics |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=229–251 |doi=10.5129/001041522X16195268352999}}