Regimes and Repertoires

by Charles Tilly

"The means by which people protest - that is, their repertoires of contention - vary radically from one political regime to the next. Highly capable undemocratic regimes such as China's show no visible signs of popular social movements, yet produce many citizen protests against arbitrary, predatory government. Less effective and undemocratic governments like Sudan's, meanwhile, often experience regional insurgencies and even civil wars. In Regimes and Repertoires, Charles Tilly offers a wide-ranging case-by-case study of various types of government and the equally various styles of protests they foster." "Using examples drawn from many areas - G8 summit and anti-globalization protests, Hindu activism in 1980s India, nineteenth-century English Chartists organizing on behalf of workers' rights, the revolutions of 1848, and civil wars in Angola, Chechnya, and Kosovo to name a few - Tilly shows that such episodes of contentious politics unfold like loosely scripted theater. Along the way,