Introduction How protests and counterprotests interact: Mutual influences, context conditions and consequences

Counterprotests have become commonplace around the world today in various issue areas, ranging from abortion, migration, and LGBTQ+ rights to disarmament, labor, and climate change. And yet, our knowledge about the relationship between protests and counterprotests remains limited—especially with respect to concrete interactions between them in situ. This introduction outlines how the articles in the special issue contribute to a better understanding of when and why counterprotests are likely to emerge, how they are affected by—and, in turn, alter—the protests they target, and what the outcomes of their interaction might be.