Coalitions Under Threat: Analyzing the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protests Using Telegram Social Media Data

Abstract

Social movements are made up of organized groups and individuals working together to accomplish shared objectives. Under what circumstances do active groups build and break their coalitions? Five conditions have been identified in the literature as influencing coalition formation: common identity, resources, organizational structure, historical connection, and institutional setting. Whereas coalition dynamics within a movement wave are best understood in terms of institutional opportunities and threats, further research is needed to determine how and to what extent these contextual elements influence coalitions. This chapter examines how threats posed by indiscriminate and selective repression affect the shape and structure of interorganizational coalitions during the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) protests in Hong Kong. The analysis relies on an original political event dataset and an organization-event network dataset. These datasets were produced utilizing syntactic event coding techniques based on Telegram posts, which Hong Kong protesters used to distribute information, plan future actions, and crowdsource news. Furthermore, Telegram provides detailed information about state activities, event-level coalitions, and violent groups, which is difficult to access from other sources. This study investigates the coalition networks across the movement's four stages, each of which was marked by a particular type and degree of repression. The findings indicate that indiscriminate and selective repression have varied effects on coalition networks. A wide coalition disintegrates as a result of indiscriminate repression. Selective repression, however, leads to the formation of coalitions around activist groups targeted by repression.

Citation

Yuan, W. (2023), "Coalitions Under Threat: Analyzing the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Protests Using Telegram Social Media Data", Maher, T.V. and Schoon, E.W. (Ed.) Methodological Advances in Research on Social Movements, Conflict, and Change (Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Vol. 47), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 239-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0163-786X20230000047011