Political Unrest and Tyre Burning Theory in Developed Democracies and Developing Democracies

Introduction

Political unrest is a frequent phenomenon among nations. It does not ordinarily take place in a political settings or a community. They occur due to dissonance and breakdown in agreements between one of the partners usually the government as against the citizens. Political unrests are normal phenomenon to humans in all sectors regardless of the level of development. This is because man is a political animal, love to be in a state of bliss and prefers to express his rights without been hindered by anyone. At the instance of hindrance of whatsoever means, by law mostly because man is born free but everywhere he is in chains, protest of varying magnitude may result, he will react to curb the hindrances to the barest minimal.

Protests occur with varying level of force. A peaceful protest has a minimal force and the actions and inactions with the inherent reactions do not lead to destruction of properties or loss of life. A violent protest on the other hand has a significant high level of force and the actions and inactions with the inherent reactions leads to destruction of properties or loss of lives. At the mid-point, there is the quasi violent or quasi peaceful protest (Croco, Cunningham and Vincent, 2023; Apolte, 2022; Aluko, 2020; Battaglini, 2017). This is somewhat peaceful with some elements of forceful actions and inactions with the inherent reactions that do not lead to loss of life but a smear destruction of properties.

At the mid-point of peaceful protest and violent protest is the occurrence of tyre burning theory scenario. It is a gradual transformation and degeneration of a peaceful protest of people on any issue in the society to a violent protest with the evidence of destruction of properties and loss of lives (Aluko, 2018). The main aftermath symbol of such protest is the tyre burning on the street. To the extent that few days after peace building had been attained, the burnt tyre symbols will serve as evidence and remembrance of such protest to the members of the public (Aluko, 2018).

It is important to note that civil unrest, civil disobedience and political protests in any form occur in all countries of the world. It is evident in both developed democracies and developing democracies. It also occurs in other forms of governance other than democracy such as communist countries, unitary states and totalitarian regimes. However, of note is the high rate of political protests in democratic regimes because of the high respect the system of governance have for the rights, freedom and existence of the people within its territory. Protests and government responsiveness to them are often seen as a critical part of a

healthy democracy (Tarrow, 1989; Gause, 2022). While citizens with widely-shared views can vote to achieve their desired outcomes, protests can offer those outside the mainstream an alternative to signal their preferences (Battaglini, 2017).

Protest or political unrest is not a negative inference on the democratic system but a positive recourse on it. Such rights and privileges accrued to the people to challenge the state helps to strengthening the institutions of the state, ensure check and balance, promote stability of the state and the gelling together of the members of the community over a just course. Be it peaceful or violent protests, the end result are the reassessment of government decisions and the evaluations of the people’s requests. This study provides inkling for political protests and tyre burning theory in democracies across the world.