What do the Orange Revolution of 2004 in the Ukraine, the English abolitionist movement of the 19th century, the mobilization of Israeli colonists refusing to evacuate the Gaza strip, and the feminists of 1968 burning their bras have in common? It's subject of this book: the forms of conflict, whether peaceful or violent, of political action.

Two authors analyze, across three centuries and three continents, the similarities and differences between protests and riots, social movements and revolutions, and why these mobilizations live or die, who are the major actors, the modus operandi, and the consquences, for them – whether they take place in democratic societies or under authoritarian regimes. In a vibrant, accessible, clear style, Tilly and Tarrow provide us with indispensable tools – concepts, models, theory – to comprehend that which remains the principal engine of politics: conflict.

Charles Tilly is a Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. Sidney Tarrow is a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Cornell University.

"A perfectly timely guide for conflict analysis, put forth by two great masters. There is no better instrument for teaching students how to understand the causes, the processes and the results of different forms of political conflict."
Jack A. Goldstone, George Mason University.

"This book will be indispensable to all sociologists and politicists directing their students toward their first research on political participation, electoral politics, political subversion, social movements and revolution."
Karen Beckwith, The College of Wooster.