Title page
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Abstract 7
Executive summary 8
How common was participation in anti-authority protest? 9
Were anti-authority protesters more vulnerable to radicalisation? 10
Were there differences between first-time anti-authority protesters and those with prior protest experience? 11
What are the implications for responding to anti-authority protest and the risk of mobilisation to violence? 11
Introduction 12
Method 16
Recruitment, sampling and weighting 16
Sample characteristics 17
Measuring protest participation 20
Risk and protective factors for radicalisation 20
Analysis 22
Limitations 22
Anti-authority protest 23
Protest participation 23
Social and political beliefs 26
Risk and protective factors for radicalisation 30
Sociodemographic factors 30
Psychological or personality factors 32
Experiential factors 33
Attitudinal factors 36
Criminogenic factors 39
Total number of risk and protective factors 40
Radicalised attitudes and intentions to use violence 43
Discussion 46
Vulnerability to radicalisation 47
Differences between first-time anti-authority protesters and those with prior protest experience 50
Implications for responding to anti-authority protest and the risk of mobilisation to violence 51
References 54
Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of respondents 18
Table 2. Selected sociodemographic characteristics of respondents and concordance with population data 19
Table 3. Protest groups 20
Table 4. Sociodemographic risk and protective factors measured in the survey 31
Table 5. Psychological or personality risk factors measured in the survey 33
Table 6. Experiential risk factors measured in the survey 35
Table 7. Attitudinal risk and protective factors measured in the survey 38
Table 8. Criminogenic risk factors measured in the survey 40
Figure 1. Major protest activity, 2020-22 13
Figure 2. Respondents by usual place of residence 17
Figure 3. Risk and protective factors for radicalised attitudes, intentions and beliefs 21
Figure 4. Protest participation 23
Figure 5. Protest participation prior to January 2020 24
Figure 6. Other protest activity among anti-authority protesters 24
Figure 7. Protest frequency among anti-authority protesters, by prior protest 25
Figure 8. Concerns about or goals for protesting issue or movement, by protest cause 26
Figure 9. Position on the left-right political spectrum, by recent protest cause 26
Figure 10. Respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with statements commonly associated with conspiracy beliefs, by protest group 27
Figure 11. Respondents who believed votes are occasionally or never counted correctly or fairly in an election 28
Figure 12. Respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with statements commonly associated with values of the sovereign citizen movement, by protest group 29
Figure 13. Total number of risk factors for radicalisation, by protest group 41
Figure 14. Total number of protective factors for radicalisation, by protest group 41
Figure 15. Net risk score, by protest group 42
Figure 16. Mean scores for the Violent Extremism Scale, by protest group 43
Figure 17. Mean scores for the Radicalism Intention Scale, by protest group 44
Figure 18. Overall rating of radical attitudes and intentions, by net risk score (predictive margins) 45
Figure 19. Risk and protective factors for radicalised attitudes, intentions and beliefs observed among anti-authority protesters 49