Peripheral resistance movements: Towards a triangulated research approach

Abstract

What motivates people in the peripheries to risk their safety and even their lives to resist a centralising centre? In literature, a thesis of peripheral resistance movements was long constructed to postulate that under centre-periphery conflicts, rising peripheral identity will contribute to resistance movements against a centralising centre. Over the years, this thesis has been developed into a body of historical and contemporary qualitative case studies to account for centre-periphery conflicts worldwide. Yet, quantitative studies that empirically test the mechanism through which peripheral identity influences peripheral resistance movements remain rare. This study endeavours to make a modest contribution to the field by exploring a triangulated approach that combines both quantitative and qualitative analyses of peripheral resistance movements, using the 2019-2020 Hong Kong Anti-Extradition Bill Movement as the research testing site. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings of this study validate the thesis of peripheral resistance movements in the context of Hong Kong, with 'peripheral identity' found to be the most significant variable in predicting people's level of 'support' and 'participation' in the movement. By fostering a triangulated approach for investigating peripheral resistance movements, this study provides The author has published part of the telephone survey dataset used in this manuscript in another journal article in Democratization (see Fong, Brian C. H. 2022. Movement-voting nexus in hybrid regimes: voter mobilization in Hong Kong's Antit-Extradition Bill Movement, Democratization,