Rightful Resistance in Rural China by Kevin J. O'Brien and Lianjiang Li. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 179pp., £14.99, ISBN 0 521 67852 8 By carefully explicating the concept of ‘rightful resistance’, O'Brien and Li's book makes a significant contribution to the literature on contentious politics and the study of popular protest in China. Highly conversant with the theoretical literature and expertly synthesising and marshalling hundreds of interviews, survey data and existing scholarly research, the end product is original, thorough and convincing. The book is also a clearly written and highly engaging read, not an insignificant achievement for such a dense conceptual study. The concept of rightful resistance (first appearing in O'Brien's World Politics article in 1996) evolves through the observation of forms of social protest, increasingly prevalent in rural China, that ‘straddle the border between ... popular resistance and institutionalized participation’ (p. 2). Rightful resistance involves ‘claims that are neither transgressive nor contained, but boundary spanning’ (p. 49), in the defence of ‘rights extended but not observed’ (p. 62). The multilayered hierarchy and ‘formidable principal-agent problems’ (p. 65) of the Chinese state have created an opportunity structure which village activists can exploit in resisting the mis-implementation of central policies by cadres at the local level. In other words, since state power is ‘fragmented and divided against itself’ it is often possible for villagers to ‘locate pressure points where elite unity crumbles’ (p. 14). In practice, this requires that villagers identify legal provisions, or even discursive cues, from the centre, that are at odds with local realities. Subsequently, since activists face daunting obstacles at the local level, they often need to locate advocates and benefactors at higher levels, who may be sympathetic to claims which – by flagging up and challenging mis-implementation – ostensibly strengthen rather than challenge state policies. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of rightful resistance and links it to other types of popular contention; chapter 2 examines the opportunities for protest in rural China; chapter 3 explains the boundary-spanning nature of rightful resistance; chapter 4 looks at how more benign modes of rightful resistance can escalate into direct action; chapter 5 examines the outcomes of rightful resistance in terms of policy implementation and effects on activists and the wider community; and chapter 6 discusses the potential ramifications for state–society relations in China, in terms of notions of citizenship and the prospects for political change. As befits such an accomplished conceptual study, the book provokes many further research questions and hypotheses and is essential reading for anyone interested in social protest in China and elsewhere. Jonathan Sullivan (University of Nottingham). Political Studies Review 6(3), 2008.