The 2006-09 Institute for the Social Sciences (ISS) theme project examines the emergence and diffusion of social protest around authoritative knowledge, as well as the effects of such protest on policy and institutional change.

Consider this: Why do some claims to scientific or social-scientific knowledge become authoritative and consensual, whereas others raise storms of social protest and political conflict? Why do some forms of "contentious politics" around knowledge claims remain isolated and localized, whereas others spread to new sites or establish linkages to a broader set of actors and issues? The 2006-09 Institute for the Social Sciences (ISS) theme project examines the emergence and diffusion of social protest around authoritative knowledge, as well as the effects of such protest on policy and institutional change. Ronald J. Herring and Kenneth M. Roberts, both professors of government, co-lead the project.