Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe (Studies in Rationality and Social Change) [Hardcover]

Roger D. Petersen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0521770009 | ISBN-13: 978-0521770002 | Edition: 1

Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe explains how ordinary people become involved in resistance and rebellion against powerful regimes. The book provides a detailed theoretical treatment of the process that pushes and pulls individuals into risk-laden roles. It also reconstructs Lithuanian social networks of the 1940s, through extensive interviews, to illustrate and test the argument. The work conducts comparisons with several other Eastern European nations to show the breadth and depth of the approach. The book contributes to both the general literature on political violence, as well as the theoretical literature on collective action.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Resistance and Rebellion is an immensely rewarding and inspiring work." American Political Science Review

"...a good building block in development of a general approach to an important subject and contains a comprehensive bibliography." CHOICE

"...the book's contributions should be of interest to a wide audience of scholars concerned with collective action and comparative methodology." Contemporary Sociology

"This book presents an innovative attempt to examine how and why, at certain times, ordinary people decide to incur grave risks by rebelling against overwhelmingly powerful oppressors. . . . The substantive findings reported in Resistance and Rebellion should be of great relevance both to area specialists and to social movement experts. Petersen's impressive methodology, moreover, will stand as an illuminating example of research design for many researchers in positive political science and sociology across various sub-fields." Social Movement Studies

Book Description

Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe explains how ordinary people become involved in resistance and rebellion against powerful regimes. The book provides a detailed theoretical treatment of the process that pushes and pulls individuals into risk-laden roles. It also reconstructs Lithuanian social networks of the 1940's, through extensive interviews, to illustrate and test the argument. The work conducts comparisons with several other East European nations to show the breadth and depth of the approach. The book contributes to both the general literature on political violence, as well as the theoretical literature on collective action.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (May 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521770009
• ISBN-13: 978-0521770002
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,372,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but --, November 17, 2011

By 

R. L. Huff "An old reader" (Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe (Studies in Rationality and Social Change) (Hardcover)

I have no problem with the author's basic theory, as far as it goes. Resistance networks are like any other in that they overlap in membership. This stands to reason in local areas where the given population for any activity is limited. Families, political parties, occupation networks, fraternal organizations are all dipping into the same human well for everyday purposes as well as extraordinary times.

But I don't think this theory adequately explains the combustible nature of Lithuania or the Soviet borderlands in general in their see-saw between Hitler and Stalin. First, these societies were not particularly violent in normal daily life. There is no Balkan or Caucasian cult of personal honor and blood revenge. It was the occupation that created the conditions of violence by kicking over the established states, institutions, and routines that hedged people's behavior. They resisted, in short, because they paradoxically had the freedom and opportunity, as well as the necessity, of resistance.

Secondly, the resistance wasn't (and never is) as universal as its participants wish to believe. They are always large segments of the native population who don't want to get involved in resistance violence, whether from principal or timidity. As Alexander Statiev presented in "The Soviet Counter-Insurgency in the Western Borderlands," much of the partisans' time and effort went into policing the locals and purging their own ranks as in resisting the enemy, with often counter-productive results that the occupiers turned to advantage.

As I said, a good work with a good analysis but doesn't go far enough, in my opinion, in analyzing its subject.