Political Science/Sociology

Recent events-from the collapse of Leninist regimes in Eastern Europe to the democratization of South Asian and South American states-have profoundly changed our ways of understanding and studying contentious politics, particularly the relationship between state repression and political mobilization.

With case studies that range from Germany to the Philippines, the United States to Japan, Guatemala to China, the authors take up topics as varied as the dynamic interactions between protesters and policing agents, distinctions between “hard” and “soft” repression, the impact of media on our understanding of political contention, the timing and shape of protest and resistance cycles, and how measurements of social and geographic control influence states' responses to insurgencies. Together these essays synthesize what we know about repression and mobilization and provide thoughtful insight for the future.

Contributors: Patrick Ball, Vince Boudreau, Myra Marx Ferree, Ronald A. Francisco, Ruud Koopmans, Mark Lichbach, John D. McCarthy, Clark McPhail, Patricia Steinhoff, Charles Tilly, Gilda Zwerman.

Christian Davenport is associate professor and director of the Radical Information Project at the University of Maryland.
Hank Johnston is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at San Diego State University.

Carol Mueller is professor of sociology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University West.

Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, volume 21

University of Minnesota Press
Printed in U.S.A.
Cover design by Jeanne Lee
Cover photograph copyright Getty Images