In Countermobilization, Brown University political scientist Eric Patashnik takes a broad look at backlashes to enacted and proposed policies since the 1960s. The book both comprehensively tracks when backlashes occur and takes a deep dive into specific backlashes to offer lessons for scholars and policymakers. Patashnik is attentive to the details of the choices policymakers faced and their political consequences, as well as the broader contexts that drive mobilization and policy opposition.

Countermobilization tells both a micro and a macro story of American policy backlash. In the micro story, the potential for backlash is often driven by policy design choices and strategic bargaining. Did policies concentrate costs on a well-resourced and mobilized constituency that had public sympathy? If so, a backlash was likely. Did policymakers seek to buy off potential opponents, set the terms for debates over implementation, and hide costs more than benefits? If so, they likely had more of a chance to avoid backlash.

The macro story suggests less policymaker agency. The quintessential backlash was the public and electoral mobilization against civil rights for Black Americans. Since then, conservatives of all kinds—from business to religious groups—have repeatedly reacted against the large expansion of the American state, tryin