Collective Resistance in China - Why Popular Protests Succeed or Fail

Yongshun Cai

Summary

Although academics have paid much attention to contentious politics in China and elsewhere, research on the outcomes of social protests, both direct and indirect, in non-democracies is still limited. In this new work, Yongshun Cai combines original fieldwork with secondary sources to examine how social protest has become a viable method of resistance in China and, more importantly, why some collective actions succeed while others fail. 
Cai looks at the collective resistance of a range of social groups—peasants to workers to homeowners—and explores the outcomes of social protests in China by adopting an analytical framework that operationalizes the forcefulness of protestor action and the cost-benefit calculations of the government. He shows that a protesting group's ability to create and exploit the divide within the state, mobilize participants, or gain extra support directly affects the outcome of its collective action. Moreover, by exploring the government's response to social protests, the book addresses the resilience of the Chinese political system and its implications for social and political developments in China.

Available since: 02/17/2010.

Other books that might interest you

Freedom is a Constant Struggle -...

Angela Y. Davis

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles-from the black freedom movement to the South African antiapartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "freedom is a constant struggle."

Show book

Cork Wars - Intrigue and...

David A. Taylor

“This well-researched, well-told story takes readers into a world of espionage, industrial ingenuity, and American resilience . . . a compelling history.” —Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic 
 
Silver Medal Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award for History (World) 
 
In 1940, with German U-boats blockading all commerce across the Atlantic Ocean, a fireball at the Crown Cork and Seal factory lit the sky over Baltimore. Rumors of Nazi sabotage led to an FBI investigation and pulled an entire industry into the machinery of national security as America stood on the brink of war. 
 
In Cork Wars, David A. Taylor traces this fascinating story through the lives of three men and their families: Charles McManus, who ran Crown Cork and Seal, a company that manufactured everything from bottle caps to oil-tight gaskets for fighter planes; Frank DiCara, who watched the fire blazed at the factory and got a job at Crown just a few years later; and Melchor Marsa, who managed Crown Cork and Seal’s plants in Spain and Portugal—and was perfectly placed to be recruited as a spy. 
 
Drawing on in-depth interviews with surviving family members, personal collections, and recently declassified government records, Taylor weaves this by turns beautiful, dark, and outrageous narrative with the drama of a thriller. From the factory floor to the corner office, Cork Wars reflects shifts in our ideas of modernity, the environment, and the materials and norms of American life. World War II buffs—and anyone interested in a good yarn—will be gripped by this bold and frightening tale of a forgotten episode of American history. 
 
“An absorbing and illuminating read.” —Maury Klein, author of A Call to Arms

Show book

A Survival Guide to the...

David J. Helfand

Learning how to tell news from fake news from fake fake news: An “important and timely” book on protecting ourselves, and society, from the infodemic (Library Journal). We have billions of bytes of data at our fingertips. But how much of it is misinformation—or even disinformation? A lot of it is, and your search engine can’t tell the difference. As a result, an avalanche of misinformation threatens to overwhelm the discourse we so desperately need to address complex social problems such as climate change, the food and water crises, biodiversity collapse, and emerging threats to public health. This book provides an inoculation against the misinformation epidemic by cultivating scientific habits of mind. Anyone can do it—indeed, everyone must do it if our species is to survive on this crowded and finite planet. This survival guide supplies an essential set of apps for the prefrontal cortex while making science both accessible and entertaining. It will dissolve your fear of numbers, demystify graphs, and elucidate the key concepts of probability, all while celebrating the precise use of language and logic. David Helfand, one of our nation’s leading astronomers and science educators, has taught scientific habits of mind to generations in the classroom, where he continues to wage a provocative battle against sloppy thinking and the encroachment of misinformation. “Provides a vital antidote to the ills of misinformation by teaching systematic and rigorous scientific reasoning.” —The Times Literary Supplement

Show book

John Lewis: 50th Anniversary of...

PBS NewsHour

Fifty years ago, 23-year-old John Lewis raised his voice to a crowd of more than 200,000 people at a protest march that would come to represent "the best of America." Gwen Ifill talks to the congressman about what motivated him to become a young civil rights leader and the current state of civil rights and equality in America.

Show book

Inside British Intelligence -...

Gordon Thomas

“Rollicking, readable new history of Britain’s famous spy organization.” —Los Angeles Times 
 
A complete and up-to-date account of the two oldest and still the most powerful, secretive intelligence services in the world: MI5, the security service, and MI6, the secret intelligence service, which have been in existence for over a century. This is a story of spectacular triumphs, treachery, their frigid relationship, their untold work with the CIA, Mossad and the spy services of Europe, and their part in the fight against terror. It is also the story of two agencies led by men who are enigmatic, eccentric and controversial and who ruthlessly control their spies. From the unique partnership between Mossad and MI6, how MI5 and MI6 became a breeding ground for Soviet spies post-war, their exploitation of the collapse of the Soviet Union and their role in biological warfare, and including how both services monitor the spies of every nation based in London, it reads like fiction. But it’s not. 
 
Based on prodigious research and interviews with significant players Inside British Intelligence is packed with new and startling information. 
 
“An irresistible picture of an age of global terrorism, drug trafficking and economic warfare.” —Sunday Telegraph 
 
“ . . . a fascinating cast of moles and double agents, whistle-blowers and politicians. For the ambience of the closed world that inspired James Bond and George Smiley, this book is a winner.” —Publishers Weekly 
 
“A well-written page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews 
 
“Thomas brings to the agencies histories a high level of expertise, a fluent style, accessible to lay reader and expert alike.” —Booklist

Show book

Identity and Violence - The...

Amartya Sen

"One of the few world intellectuals on whom we may rely to make sense out of our existential confusion." —Nadine GordimerIn this sweeping philosophical work, Amartya Sen proposes that the murderous violence that has riven our society is driven as much by confusion as by inescapable hatred. Challenging the reductionist division of people by race, religion, and class, Sen presents an inspiring vision of a world that can be made to move toward peace as firmly as it has spiraled in recent years toward brutality and war.

Show book