Data Review
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Review of Nils B. Weidmann (2019): Mass Mobilization in Autocracies Database (MMAD)
Version 1.0, published: May 15, 2025.
Description
The Mass Mobilization in Autocracies Database (MMAD) is a data collection which tracks political protests in autocratic countries. The data provides a sub-national overview of both anti- and pro regime protests that have taken place in the time period from 2003 to 2019, while covering 70 different autocracies (1).
The research team defines a mass mobilization event as follows: “A public gathering of at least 25 people with an expressed political motivation either opposing or supporting a) central, regional, or local government, or b) other non-governmental institution.” (Weidmann/Rød 2019: 1).
The MMAD’s data was collected from news reports covering protests, utilizing reports from the following three agencies: Associated Press (AP), Agence France Presse (AFP) and BBC Monitoring. The data is available at both the original level of reports and as a pre-aggregated version of the data at the level of events (1).
After the publication of the MMAD, the data was expanded on by an additional dataset, the MMAD Repressive Actors (MMAD-RA) dataset. This dataset contains temporal and geographical data on the actors present at antiregime protest events as well as details on the repressive actions taken, covering the time period from 2003-2012 (4).
Of the 30.000+ total event entries in this dataset, there are 15,000+ entries at the level of protests and 8.000+ entries at the level of events listed for the countries of Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia covered by Discuss Data (1). As of summer 2024, it is not clear whether work on the data collection is continuing.
The data review contains a link leading to the official MMAD website, as well as two links leading to the download options for both the MMAD and the MMAD-RA dataset respectively.
Countries
Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Georgia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Other Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Ukraine Uzbekistan
Keywords
Protests Government Riots Demonstrations Rallies Campaigns Pickets Politics Reports