Strangers at the Gates: Movements and States in Contentious Politics

by Sidney Tarrow

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107009387
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/26/2012
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 9.49(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Sidney Tarrow (PhD, University of California, Berkeley, 1965) is Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government and Professor of Sociology at Cornell University. His recent books are Power in Movement (revised and updated edition, 2011); Contentious Politics (with the late Charles Tilly, 2006); The New Transnational Activism (Cambridge University Press, 2005); Transnational Protest and Global Activism (co-edited with Donatella della Porta, 2004); Dynamics of Contention (with Doug McAdam and Charles Tilly, 2001); and Contentious Europeans (with Doug Imig, 2001). He is currently working on war, state building and human rights.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"This fascinating volume covers the intellectual history of a major international scholar, as well as of the several fields of studies to which he contributed. Methodologically pluralist and analytically eclectic, Sidney Tarrow powerfully links contentious politics to what used to be called ‘normal politics,’ social movements to the state. He does so by moving from the French revolution to the American civil war, from the peasant movement of post-World War II in Italy to transnational activisms for human rights. And he also shows how good scholarship develops in a blending of continuities and adaptation to a changing social context. A pleasure to read and reflect upon."
Donatella Della Porta, European University Institute

"These thoughtful reflections by one of the most important contributors of the past 40 years to understanding the complicated link between movement politics and party politics seems especially prescient in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the wave of protest in 2011."
William Gamson, Boston College

"A wonderful read. Strangers at the Gates is actually Sidney Tarrow’s intellectual autobiography. And because Tarrow’s work has been so central to the study of social movements, his reflections on his own intellectual journey illuminates a wide swath of our developing understanding of social movements. This is an important book, written by a master political sociologist."
Frances Fox Piven, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

"Strangers at the Gates is the capstone work of one of the world’s leading students of social movements and their political impact. It provides a magisterial overview of this field, reprising and reflecting on Tarrow’s long and productive scholarly career. Those of us who have learned from his research will welcome this thoughtful synthesis."
Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University

"Sidney Tarrow’s Strangers at the Gates sheds light and opens a window. It sheds light by focusing on the mechanisms that connect social movements to domestic and international institutions. And it opens a window onto the restless and probing intelligence of a great scholar. Readers will benefit both from its insights and the example it provides of how historically informed social science should be done."
Robert O. Keohane, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

"Students of social movements and contentious politics will surely find Sidney Tarrow’s Strangers at the Gates a valuable academic asset. Always combining knowledge and insights from several social science disciplines and sub-disciplines, and typically managing a remarkable balance between a theoretically informed comparative perspective and an in-depth, nuanced analysis of single cases, Tarrow’s Strangers at the Gates provides readers with the opportunity to learn about a truly rich array of social movements and episodes of contention. This in itself provides more than enough justifications to coin Strangers a "must read" book."
Eitan Y. Alimi, Mobilizing Ideas

"… 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

From the Publisher