DynamicsContentionBook

Dynamics of Contention (the book) May 6

We will be reading this book together. I expect that much of it will build upon what we have already read in Tarrow's book.

Dynamics of Contention. Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, Charles Tilly.

Part 1: What's the Problem? (Meta-theoretical meta-methodological discussions. Critique of the past, movement to the future.)

Ch 1. What are they shouting about? Overview. Definitions. Contained vs transgressive contention (a distinction I don't buy). From polity model to dynamics of contention. Summary of "Classic social movement agenda". Discussions of intellectual resources (theoretical traditions) and move to relational perspective. Discussion of causal mechanisms. Mechanisms & processes as the keys.
Ch2. Lineaments of contention. Mobilization of people into movements. Towards a dynamic mobilization model. Social construction of actors over time.
Ch 3. Comparisons, Mechanisms, and Episodes. State capacity and democracy. Discussion of how to make comparisons.

Part 2: Tentative Solutions.

Ch4. Mobilization in Comparative Perspective. Not testing general theory: looking for mechanisms. Detailed case studies of Mau Mau in Kenya, Yellow revolution in Philippines. Focus on mechanisms, not general principles.
Ch 5. Contentious Action. Who makes claims & why? Who do they say they are? What forms do their claims making take? South Asian examples, again focus on mechanisms.
Ch 6. Transofrmations of Contention. Trajectories. Different possibilities, looking for mechanisms that go different ways.

Part 3. Applications and Conclusions.

Ch 7. Revolutionary Trajectories.
Ch 8. Nationalism, National Disintegration, and Contention. Nationalism as a form of contention. Language, ethnicity. Statebuilding. Italy. Soviet Union.
Ch 9. Contentious Democratization. Switzerland & Mexico as cases.
Ch 10. Conclusions. Away from one actor in west to relational, international. Methodological implications pp 312-3. Three robust processes: actor constitution, polarization, scale shift.