The rules of behavior that were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect vulnerable demographic groups met with protest in several, although not all, European countries. In the German-speaking world in particular, the resulting protest movement proved to be vigorous and enduring. New forms of everyday protest emerged, such as the refusal to wear masks or to be vaccinated. We define this cluster of everyday protest actions against the pandemic regime as “Contentious Non-Compliance” (CNC). CNC can be understood as a form of contention that incorporates practices of resistance against behavioral restrictions into a lifestyle. In contrast to structurally induced forms of non-compliance (which are caused, for example, by a lower level of education, language barriers or experiences of discrimination), CNC has a decidedly political character. The research project “Contentious Non-Compliance with Pandemic Response” represents the continuation of the extensive research that has been conducted on corona-related protests at the Chair of Social Structure Analysis.

This comparative research project is divided into two parts: an international comparison and an interregional comparison. The project adopts a mixed-methods design.

The international comparison analyzes, on the one hand, the structural conditions of the countries with pronounced protest movements and, on the other, factors related to political processes that influenced the development of the protests. The use of a comparative method provides key starting points that help explain the highly heterogenous nature of the protests at the international level.

The interregional comparison analyzes, on the one hand, the political opportunity structures and the chronological development of the protests in Switzerland and, on the other, in-depth case studies of different Swiss municipalities. In this way, the focus is to be placed on the regional aspects of CNC.