Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650-2000 analyzes relationships between democratization, de-democratization, and contentious politics. Building on recent theoretical innovations, Contention and Democracy uses a sustained comparison of French and British histories since 1650 as a springboard for more general comparisons across Europe. It goes on to demonstrate that democratization occurred as a result of struggles during which (as in 19th-century Britain and France) few, if any, of the participants were self-consciously trying to create democratic institutions. Favorable circumstances for democratization, it shows, vary from era to era and region to region as functions of previous history, international environments, available models of political organization, and predominant patterns of social relations. Many reversals - substantial phases of de-democratization - occurred in the European experiences surveyed.