Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe explains how ordinary people become involved in resistance and rebellion against powerful regimes. The book shows how a sequence of casual forces - social norms, focal points, rational calculation - operate to drive individuals into roles of passive resistance and, at a second stage, into participation in community-based rebellion organization. By linking the operation of these mechanisms to observable social structures, the work generates predictions about which types of community and society are most likely to form and sustain resistance and rebellion. The empirical material centres around Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance in both the 1940s and the 1987-1991 period. Using the Lithuanian experience as a baseline, comparisons with several other Eastern European countries demonstrate the breadth and depth of the theory. The book contributes to both the general literature on political violence and protest, as well as the theoretical literature on collective action.

羅傑•D.彼得森（Roger D. Petersen），麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院政治學副教授，芝加哥大學政治科學係博士畢業。彼得森主要研究領域為衝突和暴力、比較政治，特彆關注的焦點主要是在東歐。他寫瞭多本著作，包括有《抵抗和反叛：來自東歐的教訓》（劍橋大學齣版社2001年版）、《瞭解種族暴力：恐懼，仇恨和憎惡——20世紀的東歐》（劍橋大學齣版社2002年版），和《在巴爾乾半島西部的乾預：衝突的情感策略使用》（劍橋大學齣版社2011年版）。彼得森主講的課程涉及內戰、族群政治和軍民關係。