About Us
The Contentious Politics Lab, led by Juan Tellez and Lauren Young at UC Davis, studies the causes and consequences of attempts to make claims against states or elites outside of formal institutional channels.
First, we study how conflicts over resources, rights, and recognition escalate into collective action: from protest and civil disobedience, where citizens publicly challenge authority or demand change, to intergroup violence, where ethnic, religious, or political communities clash over territory, status, or survival. It includes vigilante justice, where communities bypass the state entirely and take enforcement into their own hands when formal institutions are weak or absent.
Second, we seek to understand deescalation and peace-building, through which which individuals and groups attempt to manage, resolve, or recover from violent conflict and rebuild civic trust. What unites these phenomena is that they all involve groups making forceful, often disruptive claims in contexts where the rules of the game are themselves contested.
Faculty
Lauren Young
Associate Professor, Political Science · UC Davis
Juan F. Tellez
Associate Professor, Political Science · UC Davis
Lab Coordinator
Anissa Joseph
PhD Candidate, Political Science · UC Davis