Perspectives on Protest in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, the United States and Australia

Abstract

This chapter provides background on the antiwar movements against the 2003 US-led Iraq invasion in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and the United States and considers the effect of the media on the public's perception of protest activities. In addition, we briefly address the growing importance of technology on protest activity. Against this backdrop, we analyze qualitative responses provided by participants from these nations to two items from the Personal and Institutional Rights to Aggression and Peace Scale (PAIRTAPS; Malley-Morrison, Daskalopoulos, & You International Psychology Reporter 10:19-20, 2006). Using a grounded theory approach, responses were coded into major themes and subcategories, and frequencies were generated to summarize the pattern of responses across categories for each item. We conducted exploratory analyses to assess whether major themes and subcategories varied as a function of demographic and background characteristics. The majority of participants supported the right of individuals to protest, and categories did vary as a function of some personal characteristics. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the results and links them back to the initial literature review.