Our knowledge accumulation of contentious politics in China has accelerated in recent years due to two laudable trends in the scholarship on this issue. First, authors have begun to engage the literature in the field more effectively, including general theories beyond China. Second, many authors have begun to frame their central questions and arguments in a way that facilitates verification or dismissal by other scholars.

Yongshun Cai's new book is a good example. It addresses a clearly framed question—why have some incidents of collective protest in China succeeded, while others have failed? In answering this question, Cai offers a lucid and theoretically informed analytical framework, in which he lays out the incentive structure for both protesters and the government (including central and local governments). Most arguments in the book can be readily tested by other scholars.

Unlike many other works on this topic, which have usually relied on in-depth interviews...

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