Protest Camp Infrastructure Between Collective Action and External Pressure

Prior research has shown that infrastructure and logistics in protest camps, including food, sanitation, shelter, and medical services, enable sustained mobilization under difficult conditions. Yet, while social movement scholarship has extensively examined organizational, discursive, and strategic dimensions of protest camps, their material and logistical foundations have received comparatively less systematic attention. We argue that protest camp logistics are shaped by both internal movement dynamics and external pressures, such as repression and protest violence, and that their professionalization affects participation, resilience, and overall mobilization. Empirically, this study draws on social media images to measure the scale, quality, and characteristics of logistical support across ten protest camps from 2010 to 2022. The analysis provides systematic evidence on the determinants and effects of protest camp infrastructure, highlighting its strategic and adaptive role in hybrid and authoritarian contexts and offering new insights into the material foundations of contention.