The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Honors College Spring 5-2018 From Unrest to Occupation Cameron J. Ouellette University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Ouellette, Cameron J., "From Unrest to Occupation" (2018). Honors College. 346. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/346 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FROM UNREST TO OCCUPATION by Cameron J. Ouellette A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Degree with Honors (Political Science) The Honors College University of Maine May 2018 Advisory Committee: Amy Fried, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Advisor Mark Brewer, Professor, Department of Political Science and Honors College Robert W. Glover, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and CLAS Preceptor of Honors James Warhola, Dr. John M. Nickerson Professor, Department of Political Science Steven E. Barkan, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology © 2018 Cameron Ouellette All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT The repeated occurrences of protest violence during or following Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations has been an issue for the United States since the mass demonstrations of Ferguson, MO in August of 2014. Since then, the United States has experienced a trend of organized demonstrations which follow officer-involved shootings of primarily African American civilians. How and why communities around the nation react to police violence can vary, as do the explanations for the responses of community members, demonstrators, and police officers.