Contentious Politics, Political Violence, and Revolutions
Chosen Readings: Framing Contentious Politics
The readings on ‘Framing Contentious Politics’ aimed to examine why contentious happens, how contentious politics happens, and its effects on a country. The readings reveal that contentious politics refers to the use of disruptive techniques to make a political point, which has been studied for many years by political scientists from the social movement’s perspective. Throughout history, social movements have continued to be viewed as a progressive pursuit by less powerful members in society to emphasize social change agendas. Based on the readings, contentious politics happen due to relative deprivation that results in the emergence of demand for change. The strategies used by social movements to demand change include peaceful protests to civil disobedience acts that led to consequences such as a change in government policies and access to political systems.
The readings on contentious politics had both strengths and weaknesses. The reading’s major strength is that the author provided background information on contentious politics and how political scientists over the years have explored the topic. The approach made it easy to understand the message and framework used in examining the subject. Another strength is that the author provided case studies to explain the framework of contentious politics that made it easy to understand how the topic practically applied in the real world. The author’s major weakness is that the author provided a few definitions of the key terms necessary to understand the issue and made little use of diagrams and tables.
From the readings, I learned the nature and complexities of social movements and the impact that they have on society. Social movements advocate for changes needed to build democratic nations in a country. They are mostly aimed at changing policies that do not consider the needs of minority groups such as women and low-class citizens. Such knowledge will help in the future, as I now understand why social movements should be supported by those in power and the common people. It is through social movements that countries have managed to implement policies that represent diverse groups in society.