I don't think that they necessarily help promote reform because when people are experiencing a crisis, reform might not be on the priority list of people who are trying to cope with some of the difficulties. Instead, blame can be passed back and forth as people react to the price difficulties. When a government is being blamed, leaders can react defensively which can hurt the people. During protests, governments can feel threatened, and can crush down even more severely in order to maintain their power in the government. I agree with what menareformer says about semi-authoritarian rulers...crises can only lead to positive growth if a democracy is already well established where the leaders are accountable to the priorities of the people.

One would hope that such public discontent would motivate citizens to coalesce around issues affecting their daily lives, leading them to not only participate but perhaps influence political processes that could ultimately lead to positive reforms. The fact remains, however, that price hikes are a global problem; prices have soared at such a rapid pace that people all over the world - especially the poor - have not been able to adjust. This means that the hungry go even hungrier and the longer the problem persists, the more there is social unrest. If this unrest occurs in countries governed by even semi authoritarian rulers, there will be greater susceptibility for those in power to tighten their grip on society to put more food on the table while putting democracy on the back burner.

I think that these protests may serve as a catalyst for convincing decision-makers that they must appeal to citizens' priorities in order to remain in power in the long term. These issues involve peoples' concrete concerns which affect their standard of living and their ability to survive at a basic level. In certain cases, citizens can better organize when an issue affects the subsistence of every individual in society - perhaps the power of united public protest will send a message to incumbent governments that citizens' interests should play more of a role in their decision-making.