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The Effects of Civic Consciousness and Civil Disobedience on Support for and Participation in Contentious Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2017

CHING-HSING WANG  and
DENNIS LU-CHUNG WENG
CHING-HSING WANG
Affiliation:
Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houstoncwang3@central.uh.edu
DENNIS LU-CHUNG WENG
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Cortlanddennis.weng@cortland.edu
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Abstract

This study examines the effects of civic consciousness and civil disobedience on individual attitudes toward, and participation in, contentious politics. Using the newly collected survey data on civic consciousness and civil disobedience in Taiwan in 2015, this study finds that both civic consciousness and civil disobedience are significantly associated with individual support for and engagement in contentious politics. Specifically, people with strong civic consciousness and civil disobedience are more likely to support the Sunflower Movement and take part in contentious political activities such as rallies, marches, and strikes. The findings imply that as the ideas of civic consciousness and civil disobedience prevail in a democracy, the public will be more likely to choose to use contentious political activities to express their opinions instead of institutional and legal approaches when the government is unable to respond to public needs in a timely manner.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , June 2017 , pp. 313 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

The authors appreciate the assistance in providing data by Fu-Kien Chang and Chia-hung Tsai and the Election Study Center at National Chengchi University. An earlier version of this article was presented at the conference on ‘A New Era in Taiwan: Domestic and International Implications’ at the University of Texas at Austin on 31 October 2015. The authors would like to thank the conference organizer, Tse-min Lin, the discussants, Wei-chin Lee and Philip Paolino, and other participants for their support and feedback. Also the authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their comments. The authors are alone responsible for views expressed herein.

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