This book develops a new framework to explain the sustaining of decentralized protest in the absence of strong movement organizations and leadership. Sustained protests are worth research because they not only reveal the broad social context in which the protests arise and persist but also point out the dynamics of the escalation or the decline of the protests. In addition, sustained protest may not only lead to more dramatic action, but they also result in the diffusion of protests or lead to significant policy changes.

1. Sustaining Social Movements

2. Background of the Occupy Movement

3. Movement Legitimacy and Governement Response

4. Determined Participants and Movement Sustaining

5. Leadership of the Movement

6. Tactical Escalation and Its Limitations

7. Sustained Movement and the Consequences

8. Appendix: Data Collection

9. Notes

Yongshun Cai is Professor of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology