Scholarship on revolutions and on movements developed separately, but since movements are prime actors in revolution, the two fields were bound to converge. Movements and revolutions differ, but movements make revolutions, are their prime mover, and pilot the main mechanisms of revolutionary success.

The cultural turn in the social sciences has enriched social movement scholarship by emphasizing the framing of collective action, the construction of political identities, and emotion work. Together, these three approaches provide a more in-depth approach to social movements than pure instrumental approaches.

From the rise of the modern state, social movements have grown up around the infrastructure of the state, shifting from traditional to modern forms of contention, using print and association to fortify themselves.

How social movement theories grew out of important historical junctures, reflecting changes in states and capitalism and the development of the social sciences.

The social movement field developed around domestic contention, but as globalization and internationalization proceeded, different forms of transnational contention developed. This has taken two main forms – the creation of transnational NGOs and transnational social movements. The most striking process is transnational diffusion, but two internal processes -- domestication and global framing – and two international processes – externalization and transnational coalition formation – reinforce the transnationalization of social movements.

Political regimes can be seen as collections of opportunities and threats to social movements. They both facilitate and repress collective actors and channel contention into forms that they can manage. Movements attempt to use channels of opportunity and avoid repression to advance their goals.

Movements seek policy reforms but also seek the transformation of identities and the success of their favorite forms of contention. Scholars have mainly focused on the first kind of success but are increasingly looking at identity change and emotion work. More work needs to be done on the influence of particular movements and waves of movement on the repertoire of contention.

The field of social movements and contentious politics has three audiences – students, scholars, and citizens. This chapter summarizes the findings of the book and offers suggestions for all three audiences.

Scholars mainly focus on individual movements or movement organizations, but the major impact of contentious politics takes place as the result of cycles of contention in which movements converge, reinforce one another, and come into conflict with counter-movements. In the process of cycles, some movements radicalize and others institutionalize, leading either to violence, pacification, or the combination of the two.