Strangers at the Gates
Movements and States in Contentious Politics

Places social movements in the broader arena of contentious politics in relation to states, political parties and other actors.

Sidney Tarrow (Author)

9781107009387, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 March 2012

272 pages, 13 b/w illus. 8 tables
24.1 x 16.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.51 kg

'… the book offers such a powerful theoretical synthesis that I have no doubt that within lies a treasure trove of opportunities for the next generation of scholars.' Lee Ann Banaszak, Mobilization

This book contains the products of work carried out over four decades of research in Italy, France and the United States, and in the intellectual territory between social movements, comparative politics, and historical sociology. Using a variety of methods ranging from statistical analysis to historical case studies to linguistic analysis, the book centers on historical catalogs of protest events and cycles of collective action. Sidney Tarrow places social movements in the broader arena of contentious politics, in relation to states, political parties and other actors. From peasants and communists in 1960s Italy, to movements and politics in contemporary western polities, to the global justice movement in the new century, the book argues that contentious actors are neither outside of nor completely within politics, but rather they occupy the uncertain territory between total opposition and integration into policy.

1. Theories of contention
Part I. Movements in History: Histories of Movements: 2. Peasants and communists in southern Italy
3. State building and contention in America
4. Revolution, war, and state building in France
Part II. Movements, Parties, and Elections: 5. Movements, states, and opportunities
6. The phantom at the opera
Part III. Events, Episodes, and Cycles: 7. From eventful history to cycles of contention
8. From moments of madness to the repertoire of contention
Part IV. Outcomes of Contention: 9. Social protest and policy breakthroughs
10. 'What's in a word?'
Part V. Transnational Contention: 11. Rooted cosmopolitans and transnational activists
12. Transnational contention and human rights.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Social & political philosophy [HPS]