Revolutions of the Late Twentieth Century

by Goldstone, Jack A.; Gurr, Ted Robert; Moshiri, Farrokh

• ISBN13: 9780813375977
• ISBN10: 0813375975
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-10-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Departing from the "Great Revolutions" tradition, Jack A. Goldstone, Ted Robert Gurr, and Farrokh Moshiri have drawn together a variety of area experts to examine contemporary revolutionary crises in light of recent social and political developments. The result is a wide-ranging compendium of cases placed in current theoretical perspective.The book opens with a survey of theories of revolutionary conflict, ranging from Marx and Engels to Skocpol and Tilly. Next, Goldstone lays out an analytical framework for understanding contemporary revolutions that traces a sequence from processes of state breakdown and the ensuing struggle for power to the process of state reconstruction. The framework is then used to examine ten very different revolutionary crisesin Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iran, Poland, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza. Factors implicit in state breakdown and reconstruction such as political and fiscal crisis, elite divisions, and mass mobilization are highlighted in the analyses of the individual crises.The concluding chapter, coauthored by Gurr and Goldstone, compares the origins, dynamics, and outcomes of the revolutions in the case studies and applies the findings to ongoing and prospective cases. Taken together, the contributors' and editors' work shows that the end of the cold war does not signal the end of revolution and that with proper attention to certain conditions and factors, revolutionary "surprises''such as those in Eastern Europeneed not catch us off guard in the years ahead.THIS PARAGRAPH FOR TEXT PROMOTION ONLYAppropriate for upper division courses in revolutions and social movements,Revolutions of the Late Twentieth Centuryis fully documented, illustrated with maps, figures, and comparative tables, and bolstered by chronologies to accompany each country-specific chapter.

Author Biography

Ted Robert Gurr is distinguished professor at University of Maryland. He is an internationally known authority on the causes and management of political violence and ethnic conflict. He has been a senior consultant to the U.S. government's State Failure Task Force.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Notes	p. 3
Revolutionary Conflict Theory in An Evolutionary Perspective	p. 4
Conclusion Challenges That Remain	p. 35
Notes	p. 36
An Analytical Framework	p. 37
Notes	p. 51
Vietnam: Revolution of Postcolonial Consolidation	p. 52
Conclusion	p. 82
Notes	p. 86
Nicaragua: A New Model for Popular Revolution in Latin America	p. 88
Notes	p. 113
Iran: Islamic Revolution Against Westernization	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 132
Notes	p. 134
Poland: Nonviolent Revolution in A Socialist State	p. 136
Analytical Conclusions	p. 157
Notes	p. 161
Afghanistan: State Breakdown	p. 162
The Philippines: The Making of A """"People Power"""" Revolution	p. 194
Conclusion	p. 214
Cambodia: Revolution, Genocide, Intervention	p. 218
Conclusion	p. 232
Zimbabwe: Revolutionary VIolence Resulting in Reform	p. 235
Conclusion	p. 269
South Africa: Potential for Revolutionary Change	p. 272
Conclusion South Africa and the Revolutionary Process	p. 293
The West Bank and Gaza: The Plo and the Intifada	p. 298
Conclusion	p. 321
Comparisons and Policy Implications	p. 324
References and Selected Bibliography	p. 353
About the Book	p. 370
About the Editors and Contributors	p. 371
Index	p. 374
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