Contentious Politics
Contentious Politics examines theoretical themes in social movements, revolutions, and riots, exploring factors affecting movement dynamics.
Summary
What you’ll be able to do
Understand, analyze, explain, and critique theoretical approaches to contention.
Understand, analyze, explain, and critique explanations for the emergence of social mobilizations, including revolutions and riots.
Understand, analyze, explain, and critique explanations for a variety of dynamics of contention.
Explain the role of culture and emotions as well as social and political structures in processes of contention.
Understand and critique various methodological approaches to studying contention including which methods are best suited for which questions.
Apply methodological and theoretical approaches to contention through independent research.
Source: UW Guide
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Prerequisites
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- Graduate/professional standing
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Student experience
the class
Why do people mobilize outside of routine political channels or institutions to pursue political change? How do we explain moments when people take to the streets or take up arms to accomplish their political goals? At the heart of these questions is one that has long formed a core of social science inquiry: how do scholars explain collective action, particularly in the face of often serious risks. Examine these questions through exploring leading theoretical themes in the study of social movements, revolutions, and riots. Explore how a variety of factors affect the where's, why's and how's of movement dynamics.
difficulty & workload
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Topics
- Theoretical themes in social movements, revolutions, and riots.
- Factors affecting the location, causes, and mechanisms of movement dynamics.
- Role of culture, emotions, and social/political structures in contention.
Skills
- Analyze, explain, and critique theoretical and methodological approaches to contention.
- Explain the role of culture, emotions, and social/political structures in contention.
- Apply methodological and theoretical approaches to independent research on contention.
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Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
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Model & dataset provenance
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