Learning Objectives

  • How and why are people mobilized to participate in contentious politics?
  • How do social movements and other forms of contentious politics function?
  • What effects do contentious politics have on governments and policies?
  • What effects have globalization and the advent of Internet-based communications and social media had on contentious politics?
  • Why does contentious politics sometimes turn violent and take the forms of terrorism, civil war, or revolution?