14. CIVIL WAR & 15. REVOLUTIONS Flashcards
Also known as intrastate war; a war between organized groups within the same state or country; from the Latin bellum civile
Civil war
Aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region or to change government policies
Civil war
A high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces, that is sustained, organized and large-scale
Civil war
[THEORIST] Social revolution is a rapid, fundamental, and violent domestic change in the dominant values and myths of a society, in its political institutions, social structure, leadership, and government activity and policies
Huntington
[THEORIST] Social revolution is a rapid, basic transformation of a society’s state and class structure; accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below
Skocpol
[THEORIST] Social revolution is the collapse of the political order and its replacement by a new one
Arjomand
[THEORIST] Social revolution is the rapid and fundamental transformation in the categories of social life and consciousness, the metaphysical assumptions on which these categories are based, and the power relations in which they are expressed as a result of widespread popular acceptance of a utopian alternative to the current social order
Paige
[THEORIST] Social revolution is a a popular uprising that transforms an existing socioeconomic and political order
Tiruneh
Theorist behind patterns of revolution
Huntington
A pattern of revolution, according to Huntington:
- Occurred in traditional monarchical countries
- Sequence: First, traditional states collapsed; second, social mobilizations followed; and third, new regimes were institutionalized
- Rapidly/spontaneously
Western pattern
A pattern of revolution, according to Huntington:
- Occurred in modernizing patrimonial states
- Sequence: social mobilizations occurred before the fall of the states; institutionalization of new regimes came last
- Slowly/planned
Eastern pattern
[THEORY] - Revolutions occur when long-term socioeconomic development is followed by short-term and sharp economic reversals
- The gap between what people are able to obtain and what they believe they should be able to obtain grows and turns into a crisis of rising expectations.
J-curve theory (Davies)
[THEORY] - Individuals’ perceptions of the discrepancy between the standard of living that they believe they are deserving of and the standard of living they are actually capable of achieving
- When the deprivation is intense, anger, frustration, and political violence follow.
- Also includes political variables such as legitimacy and institutionalization to explain civil strife.
Relative deprivation theory (Gurr)
[THEORY] - Value-coordinated behavior among the people of a given society leads to political stability
- Socialization helps the perpetuation of values and norms, which lead to the presence of trust and confidence among the people, a moral community
- Government also ought to be legitimized for the societal values and norms to hold
- Revolutions occur only when disequilibrium in value congruence exists. Political leaders could re-stabilize the system by making some reforms.
Equilibrium theory (Johnson)
[THEORY] - Revolution is an aspect of modernization
- Modernization, specifically social mobilization and economic development, leads to political awareness
- The people, being educated and urbanized, start to demand greater political participation
- Similar to Johnson’s thesis, revolution is caused by the gap between political mobilization of the people and the inability of political institutions to absorb the mobilized masses into politics
Modernization (Huntington)
[THEORY] - Relies on political variables, including the pursuit of power among groups in a society, to explain collective action
- A major reason for the promotion of revolutions and collective violence is the concentration of power in national states; such a concentration of power by states would lead to multiple sovereignty (other groups in a society are organized to challenge the power of the state)
- Groups’ possession of sufficient resources and strong organizations are key determinants for waging and winning revolutionary conflicts
Political conflict theory (Charles Tilly)
[THEORY] - The state must be considered a central factor as the cause of revolution
- The structural position and power of the state internationally, the nature of the state’s relationship with the dominant classes, and class struggle among groups in society play major roles in bringing about social revolutions
- International competition (both political and economic), war defeats, fiscal problems, independence of landlord’s power or lack thereof, and autonomous peasant uprising are key in creating revolutionary situations.
Structural theory (Skocpol)
[THEORY] - Rapid population growth can lead to the main issues that leads to revolution, state breakdowns, elite conflicts, and popular uprisings
- Population growth can lead to rising prices or inflation, which undermines the finances of states; can create economic conflicts among the elites as they have to compete for limited opportunities; and lead to unemployment and underemployment
Demographic-structural theory (Goldstone)
Determinants of the onset of revolutions
Economic development, democratic regimes, state effectiveness or lack thereof, and external factors
