War, States, and Contention: A Comparative Historical Study by Sidney Tarrow (review)

Tarrow follows in the footsteps of Tilly, Mann, and his own prior research to develop the connection between war, state-building, and domestic contentious politics.¹ In this book, Tarrow highlights the theoretical links between contentious politics and war. Dissension may occur during the mobilization phase as the state mobilizes soldiers, requisitions supplies, or marshals public opinion to support the war. Protest may also erupt during the war, if citizens rebel against conscription, as in the French Revolution and the U.S. Vietnam war, or if a citizenry seizes the opportunity to overthrow the state.

Contentious politics can also shape the aftermath of a war, when a state extends or constricts civil rights. Tarrow usefully considers the complex relationship between war and civil rights. In this context, the comparative scope of his argument bears the most fruit, as he shows that the relationship between war and civil rights is mediated by contentious politics and the structure of the state. Case examples include both the progressive expansion of rights that followed the French Revolution and the U.S. Civil War, and the repression of rights in the case of Italy following World War I.

In Tarrow’s view, contentious politics encompass the full range of protest activities, including and surpassing social-movement activism. Drawing on his prior work with McAdam and Tilly, he understands contentious politics as any collective political protest involving domestic civil society—“strikes, protest waves, nationalism, democratization and revolution” (xiii).² This focus creates a larger scope for the book beyond the interaction between revolution and interstate war, an area that has already received substantial scholarly attention from Skocpol, Walt, and others.³

The book provides a broad framework for placing contentious politics within the context of war and state-building. Tarrow develops comparative analyses of both historical and contemporary cases to illustrate and add complexity to the theoretical arguments. The first section of the book examines the historical cases of the French Revolution, the U.S. Civil War, and the rise of fascism in Italy following World War I. The book then shifts toward contemporary episodes, considering the shifting role of contentious politics in the United States throughout the twentieth century. The final section of the book treats the American state and its war on terror after 2001.

The analysis of contemporary U.S. political events will be of interest to those concerned about the recent abuses perpetrated by the U.S. government in the name of democracy and freedom. However, comparative-historical scholars everywhere will appreciate the breadth of Tarrow’s theoretical vision and applaud his illumination of the knotty relationship between war, contentious politics, and civil rights.