“Contentious politics” means episodic, public, collective interaction among makers of claims and their objects when: (i) at least one government is a claimant, an object of claims, or a party to the claims, and (ii) the claims would, if realized, affect the interests of at least one of the claimants or objects of claims. Roughly translated, the definition refers to collective political struggle. Contentious politics, in the sense of this entry, includes social movements, but it also includes less sustained forms of contention – like riots and strike waves – and more extensive ones – like civil wars, revolutions, and episodes of democratization – and it intersects with routine political processes – like elections and interest group politics.