The authors share what they learned by counting the protests during the past four years.

Erica Chenoweth and Jeremy Pressman's research shows that the Black Lives Matter uprisings of summer 2020 were remarkably nonviolent. When there was violence, very often police or counterprotesters were reportedly directing it at the protesters.

The authors write that the demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd represent the largest sustained mobilization in the United States in their lifetimes. They detail the new geography of activism.

Across the country, people are protesting the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and demanding action against police violence and systemic racism. National media focuses on the big demonstrations and protest policing in major cities, but they have not picked up on a different phenomenon that may have major long-term consequences for politics. Protests over racism and #BlackLivesMatter are spreading across the country — including in small towns with deeply conservative politics. The authors focus on what is happening in the "swing state" of Pennsylvania in order to give a sense of what is driving these dynamics.

Recent anti-Trump rallies have been bigger than the anti-lockdown protests. Guess which ones got more media attention?

The authors have identified nearly 100 distinct methods of nonviolent action that include physical, virtual and hybrid actions.

In an article published Oct. 23 in Sciences Advances, "The Science of Contemporary Street Protest: New Efforts in the United States," HKS Professor Erica Chenoweth, UConn Professor Jeremy Pressman, and their colleagues outline the challenges and limitations associated with studying protests scientifically on a large scale.

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, there has been substantial and ongoing protest against the Administration. Street demonstrations are some of the most visible forms of opposition to the Administration and its policies. This article reviews the two most central methods for studying street protest on a large scale: building comprehensive event databases and conducting field surveys of participants at demonstrations. After discussing the broader development of these methods, this article provides a detailed assessment of recent and ongoing projects studying the current wave of contention.

The authors analyze data from the recent—and relatively under-reported—'Lights for  Liberty' protests and elaborate on four reasons why they are significant, especially for the 2020 election.