How can the poor and weak ‘work’ a political system to their advantage? Drawing mainly on interviews and surveys in rural China, Kevin O'Brien and Lianjiang Li show that popular action often hinges on locating and exploiting divisions within the state. Otherwise powerless people use the rhetoric and commitments of the central government to try to fight misconduct by local officials, open up clogged channels of participation, and push back the frontiers of the permissible. This ‘rightful resistance’ has far-reaching implications for our understanding of contentious politics. As O'Brien and Li explore the origins, dynamics, and consequences of rightful resistance, they highlight similarities between collective action in places as varied as China, the former East Germany, and the United States, while suggesting how Chinese experiences speak to issues such as opportunities to protest, claims radicalization, tactical innovation, and the outcomes of contention.
• Shows that varieties of rightful resistance have emerged in circumstances as different as East Germany in the 1960s and America during the 1970s • Links theoretical and conceptual work in the field of contentious politics with on-the-ground research in China • Shows why social scientists and students of protest need to develop new concepts and how a concept comes into being
Contents
1. Rightful resistance; 2. Opportunities and perceptions; 3. Boundary-spanning claims; 4. Tactical escalation; 5. Outcomes; 6. Implications for China.
Reviews
'This book can be highly recommended as a major contribution to political science that sheds new light on the relations between state and society in China and raises key questions regarding the evolution and mode of functioning of the regime.' China Perspectives
'The topic of this succinct and readable book is an important one … Organized like an episode of collective action, the book works its way from origins to dynamics to consequences. These supply neat and useful conceptual frames not only for this particular book but also for the study of Chinese popular contention.' Journal of Chinese Political Science
‘… clearly-written and a highly engaging read’ Political Studies Review
'This book is a major contribution to the growing literature on political development in China. It is focused and clearly written, and readers can easily follow where the engaging empirical examples fit into the literature and theoretical framework. I highly recommend it to scholars and students (graduates and undergraduates) who are interested in social movement theory and political protest in China, and its findings should appeal to many others both within and beyond the China field.' Journal of Asian Studies
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