Democratic Protests as a Catalyst for Long-term Electoral Engagement: Insights from the German Democratic Republic

Democratic protest mobilization is a potential driver of electoral participation, yet prior research has suggested that its effects after democratic consolidation are short-lived. This study seeks to challenge this view by investigating the long-term impact of popular protests on electoral participation. Utilizing event statistics and survey data from the German Democratic Republic, this study demonstrate that the effects of democratic mobilization are not, in fact, short-lived. Rather, such events serve as important socialization experiences that increase electoral participation decades after the events. Democratic protests thus serve as a crucial mechanism for cultivating sustained engagement with the electoral process. This finding has important implications for the role of popular protests in promoting democratic participation and for our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie sustained electoral engagement.