ABSTRACT
The chapter outlines the theoretical framework of the book and sets the stage for the empirical chapters that follow. It starts with a brief discussion of the notion of “protest cycles” in order to draw attention to the fact that big protests often cluster in time and space, which has been the case also with the protest cycle after the 2008 economic crisis. The chapter introduces diffusion as a key element of protest cycles that interacts with exogenous shocks and endogenous factors, such as the strength of local actors in order to make the appearance of common frames and protest repertoires across a number of countries possible. After discussing briefly the history of diffusion studies, the chapter provides an introduction to the “players and arenas” framework and discusses the rationale for applying this framework to the topic of protest diffusion. I claim that while most social movement studies of diffusion so far have focused on what diffuses and how, most key questions about the success of diffusion can be addressed by focusing on who diffuses protest. The chapter ends with a list of key players involved in diffusion, based on a review of the social movement literature.
