Contentious Politics

Content

Objective

This course aims to introduce students to the key themes, concepts, and approaches in the literature on contentious politics as a subfield of comparative politics. It covers the field’s main research questions, theoretical perspectives, methods, terminology, and selected case studies.

Course Content

This course examines social movements, protests, revolutions, and other forms of collective political struggle through the concepts and approaches of contentious politics. Drawing on the main theoretical perspectives in the literature, it analyzes the emergence, organization, development, and political outcomes of collective action. Key concepts such as resource mobilization, political opportunity structures, collective identities, and repertoires of contention are discussed through historical and contemporary cases.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
-Define the main concepts, terminology, and research agenda of contentious politics as a subfield of comparative politics.
-Identify and explain the major theoretical approaches used to analyze contentious politics, including classical approaches, resource mobilization, political opportunity, collective identity, and emotion-based perspectives.
-Compare and evaluate different forms of contention, such as protest, nationalist mobilization, revolution, counter-revolution, civil war, genocide, and other forms of political violence.
-Analyze selected historical and contemporary case studies by relating empirical developments to the main debates in the literature on contentious politics.
-Interpret critically qualitative and quantitative research in the field, including arguments based on case studies, comparative analysis, and basic statistical findings.
-Assess the relationship between political regimes, state power, repression, and contentious collective action.
-Develop and present coherent arguments, orally and in writing, using the concepts and approaches of contentious politics.

Teaching and Learning Methods

Lectures, reading and discussion of assigned texts, question-and-answer sessions, and class discussions based on case studies.

References

- McAdam, D., Tarrow, S., & Tilly, C. (2009). Comparative perspectives on contentious politics. In M. I. Lichbach & A. S. Zuckerman (Eds.), *Comparative politics: Rationality, culture, and structure* (2nd ed., pp. 260–290). Cambridge University Press.
- Tilly, C., & Tarrow, S. (2015). *Contentious politics* (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Olson, M. (1971). *The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups*. Harvard University Press.
- McCarthy, J. D., & Zald, M. N. (1977). Resource mobilization and social movements: A partial theory. *American Journal of Sociology, 82*(6), 1212–1241.
- Meyer, D. S. (2004). Protest and political opportunities. *Annual Review of Sociology, 30*, 125–145.
- Polletta, F., & Jasper, J. M. (2001). Collective identity and social movements. *Annual Review of Sociology, 27*, 283–305.
- Beissinger, M. R. (2002). *Nationalist mobilization and the collapse of the Soviet state*. Cambridge University Press.
- Skocpol, T. (1976). France, Russia, China: A structural analysis of social revolutions. *Comparative Studies in Society and History, 18*(2), 175–210.
- Fearon, J. D., & Laitin, D. D. (2003). Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. *American Political Science Review, 97*(1), 75–90.
- Allinson, J. (2022). *The age of counter-revolution: States and revolutions in the Middle East*. Cambridge University Press.
- Munif, Y. (2020). *The Syrian revolution: Between the politics of life and the geopolitics of death*. Pluto Press.

Weekly Contents

Assessment System

Relation of Proficiency

ECTS