Does Protest Matter? The Impact of Rights-Related Protest on the Legislative Agenda

I will address two research questions: (1) Do rights-related protest events affect the congressional agenda? (2) Does political party condition the relationship between rights-related protest events and the congressional agenda? To examine these questions, I will use a crosscutting approach by distinguishing between two forms of protest – institutional and extra-institutional forms – to see if disruptive tactics had a greater impact on agenda-setting in the context of rights-related issues from 1960 until 1995. I found that extra-institutional protests related to LGBT rights as well as rights to free speech and religion had a significant impact on related congressional hearings. In addition, institutional protest was highly significant in the case of free speech and religion. However, the empirical findings provide little support for the hypothesis that hearings on rights-related issues will increase when Democrats are in control of Congress and the Presidency.