Struggling for Recognition posits that the drive for personal recognition is a prime motivation in struggles leading to democratic progress. It underscores a fundamental aspect of human nature, that is, the drive for positive self-esteem and status and the aversion of negative self-esteem and subordination. This pursuit of recognition becomes the impetus for action and it functions in various ways in contentious politics, such as overcoming fear and overriding rational calculations that may hinder collective action. The book examines the mechanisms by which this disposition is triggered and converted into political pressures that eventually lead to democratic reforms.

Struggling for Recognition will be of interest to a wide rage of scholars in political science, sociology, history and psychology, especially those researching social movements, social change, democracy, and democratic transitions.

Doron Shultziner