Countermobilization

Reviews / Votes

"Drawing on a broad range of contemporary policy issues-ranging from the Affordable Care Act and immigration reform to cultural issues such as gun control, abortion, and gay rights-Patashnik identifies [the' reasons for the increasing frequency and intensity of policy backlash. . ..Patashnik contends that policy makers can help ensure the long-term sustainability of their policies by being aware of the specific factors likely to produce a backlash and, where possible, navigating around them." * Choice * "Countermobilization both comprehensively tracks when backlashes occur and takes a deep dive into specific backlashes to offer lessons for scholars and policymakers. . ..Countermobilization is full of useful examples for practitioners and scholars. We should all aim for the book's combination of nuance and big-picture thinking. Less may now be under policymakers' control, but policymakers should still try to learn from what befell their predecessors." -- Matt Grossmann * Political Science Quarterly * "From the reactionary crusade against civil rights laws in the 1960s to the decade-long fight to overturn the 2010 Affordable Care Act, policy reforms can spark sustained counterattacks from those who dislike efforts to change the status quo. Eric Patashnik's excellent new book charts the growing frequency of such episodes and explains the conditions that precipitate what he refers to as backlash-when notable resistance emerges to oppose policy changes that threaten the political equilibrium. . .. It is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the fractious politics and uncertain prospects for policy reform today in the United States." * Perspectives on Politics * "It turns out that all actions do not have an equal and opposite reaction. Bringing long overdue attention to the politics of backlash, Eric Patashnik's masterful analysis tells us why. His arguments will be valuable not only for observers trying to make sense of our ever-more conflictual politics, but for practical policymakers seeking to design reforms that can stand the test of time." -- Paul Pierson | University of California, Berkeley "Leading policy analyst Eric Patashnik has done it again. He offers a wide-ranging yet penetrating theory of backlash politics, helping us understand when and why the public or organized interests will rise up against enacted policies. Backlash will stand alongside positive feedback, increasing returns, drift, and Patashnik's own 'durability' as a powerful tool for assessing the life course of public policies." -- Andrea Louise Campbell | author of "How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State" "Contemporary American politics is incomprehensible without understanding the politics of backlash, as Patashnik demonstrates in this deeply researched and profoundly insightful book. By analyzing a kaleidoscopic array of policies, he reveals how policies themselves contribute to the politics that unfolds. A tour de force." -- Suzanne Mettler | Cornell University "Political backlashes often feel like brush fires that came from nowhere. In this powerful book, Eric Patashnik shows that they are driven by predictable-and therefore at least somewhat avoidable-dynamics. No practitioner of public policy should design efforts at reform without taking into account the invaluable lessons of this pathbreaking book." -- Steven Teles | author of "The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement: The Battle for Control of the Law"