Blowing the Same Trumpet? Pluralist Protest in Burkina Faso.

Protesters employed a great variety of organizational forms in the cycles of popular contention that rocked the West African country of Burkina Faso from early 2011 through the overthrow of President Blaise Compaoré in October 2014. While some actions appeared largely leaderless and unstructured, others were clearly better organized and under some central direction. The organizations ranged from very local and loosely linked networks of student and community activists to professional national structures, such as union federations and political parties. The latter may have been better at articulating grievances and directly confronting state power and policies. But the former exhibited considerable tenacity and could more quickly draw in wider sectors of the population. Activists did not necessarily see one form as superior to the other; they had different strengths and weaknesses, depending on the particular conjuncture and goal. The big challenge, many agreed, was how to better coordinate their struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]