Since the 1973 publication of Alain Peyrefitte's prophetic When China Awakens, developments in East Asia have outstripped even the wildest predictions. China has undergone the fastest industrialization and urbanization process in history, yet tensions there are rising as some realize how far they have been left behind. This volume explores the applicability of European economic and social models to our analysis of East Asia's and, in particular, China's situation. Though millions of Chinese and other Asian people have been lifted out of poverty, inequality is rising nonetheless, and contemporary Europe and Asia are both witnessing collective action against rampant economic neoliberalism in the former and the exclusion of minorities in the latter.

Acknowledgements.- List of Abbreviations .- List of Tables, Figures, and Appendices.- 1: Collective Action and Relatively Powerless People in Europe and Asia: Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan and Frédéric Royall.-    Part I: Economic, Political and Social Globalization in Asia and Europe.- 2: Economic Change and Social a Dynamics: Converging and Diverging Trends Across Different Economies: Bernadette Andreosso-O'Callaghan.- 3: European Integration, Social Cohesion and Political Contentiousness: Christian Lahusen.- 4: Images and Frameworks of Collective Action in China: Carsten Storm.- 5: European Governance and Democracy: Didier Chabanet.- 6: Agricultural Markets and Food Riots: The European Union and Asia Compared: M. Bruna Zolin.- Part II: Social Movements in a Transnational Perspective.- 7: Marginalization and Transnationalizing Social Movements: How One Relates to the Other: Pascale Dufour .- 8: Transnational Collective Action and the European Network of the Unemployed: Frédéric Royall.- Part III: National Examples.- 9: The British and French Hunger Marches of the 1930s:An Exclusive Mode of Protest, a Cultural Transfer and a Fulcrum Of Success: Matt Perry.- 10: Comparing Mobilizations Against Three Social Reforms in the 2000s in Belgium: Jean Faniel.- 11: Employment Status and Political Participation: Does Exclusion Influence the Protest Behavior of the Young Unemployed?: Marco Giugni and Jasmine Lorenzini .- 12: The Practical Uses of Administrative and Cultural Categories Across the Field of Pro-Gypsy Activities in France Today: Activist Constructions and Adaptations to Political Categorizations: Anne-Cécile Renouard       .- 13: Challenges of Social Engagement: NGO Work in the People's Republic of China: Birgit Häse.- 14: The Suicide Problem in Contemporary Japanese Society: Its Economic and Social Backdrop and Religious Reactions: Michiaki Okuyama.- 15:Constructing and ControllingPeople's Power from the Grassroots.- Philippine Social Movement Activism in a Historical Perspective: Dominique Caouette  .- Part IV: Commentary.- 16: What Do Social Scientists Do When They Do Comparative Work?: Lilian Mathieu.- Bibliography.- Contributors.- IndexPart II: Social Movements in a Transnational Perspective.- 7: Marginalization and Transnationalizing Social Movements: How One Relates to the Other: Pascale Dufour .- 8: Transnational Collective Action and the European Network of the Unemployed: Frédéric Royall.- Part III: National Examples.- 9: The British and French Hunger Marches of the 1930s:An Exclusive Mode of Protest, a Cultural Transfer and a Fulcrum Of Success: Matt Perry.- 10: Comparing Mobilizations Against Three Social Reforms in the 2000s in Belgium: Jean Faniel.- 11: Employment Status and Political Participation: Does Exclusion Influence the Protest Behavior of the Young Unemployed?: Marco Giugni and Jasmine Lorenzini .- 12: The Practical Uses of Administrative and Cultural Categories Across the Field of Pro-Gypsy Activities in France Today: Activist Constructions and Adaptations to Political Categorizations: Anne-Cécile Renouard       .- 13: Challenges of Social Engagement: NGO Work in the People's Republic of China: Birgit Häse.- 14: The Suicide Problem in Contemporary Japanese Society: Its Economic and Social Backdrop and Religious Reactions: Michiaki Okuyama.- 15:Constructing and Controlling People's Power from the Grassroots.- Philippine Social Movement Activism in a Historical Perspective: Dominique Caouette  .- Part IV: Commentary.- 16: What Do Social Scientists Do When They Do Comparative Work?: Lilian Mathieu.- Bibliography.- Contributors.- Index.