Revolutions

Question 1

Marxist Theory

Answer 1

Three main components:
1. Economic factors
- economic hardships push people to revolt
- capitalism as oppressive, exploitative, causing crises due to overproduction/competition

2. Social factors
   - modernization causes social changes facilitating revolutions
   - urbanization aids communication, trade unions
3. Class consciousness
   - emergence of strong class-based identity
   - awareness of common grievances
   - necessary for communist rev, key factors preventing Marxism

Question 2

Grievance-Based Theory

Answer 2

Marxism’s economic grievances as fundamental cuase of revolutions inspired many scholars
- the state of mind of the masses as the main cause
- can be ethnic, political, cultural, etc
- Tocqueville argued revolutions are more likely when livelihoods are improving, since expectations rise as well

Question 3

Ted Gurr’s “Why Men Rebel”

Answer 3

• Popular theory of revolutions in the 1970s with clear link to Tocqueville
• Relative Deprivation: Says it is relative hardship, not absolute hardship, that causes people to revolt
  – Frustration-aggression mechanism
• It is people with high expectations that have been trampled who are likely to revolt
  – The most impoverished don’t have expectations so don’t become frustrated, therefore don’t revolt without encouragement

Question 4

Mobilization

Answer 4

• By late 1970s, moved from grievance-based to mobilizational resource focused
• Similar to SM
• Common today
• What allows people to revolt
• Assumes there are always people with motivations to revolt, but only some have means of and opening to revolt

Question 5

Skocpol’s “States and Revolutions” (1979)

Answer 5

• Theory of social revolutions – Offers an analysis of the causes of the French, Russian, and Chinese Revolutions
  – Also considers several failed revolutions to see how they differed with these successful revolutions
• Research Question: What causes some social revolutions to be successful in pre-modern agrarian states?
  – Her argument highlights two (or three) common determinants
• (1) State Breakdown: Most important factor
  – Must be weakened for a social revolution
  – When states don’t break down, they are able to squash rebellions
  – Foreign Pressure: Notes that international pressure played a very important role in causing state breakdown in all three cases
• Political Process Theory: This element of Skocpol conforms to the Political Process Theory of SMs
  – Tilly was one of her advisors
• (2) Peasant Rebellion: Important because of her focus on pre-industrial revolutions
  – Peasant revolts dependent on two conditions promoting mobilizational resources and allowing them to exploit them
• (a) Cohesion of peasants
• (b) Autonomy of peasants from landlords
• (3) Marginal Elites: Skocpol only discusses this briefly, noting they provide leadership for the revolutionary movement
  – Help organize and lead movement
• Doesn’t deny that grievances motivate revolutions
  – Implicit in argument
  – Peasants and marginalized elites disgruntled
• What’s most important is structural conditions that allow these grievances to be put into action
  – State breakdown, autonomous peasantry with mobilizational capabilities, movement leadership with mobilizational resources at their disposal

Question 6

Goodwin’s Take on States and Revolutions

Answer 6

• (1) States affect mobilization and motives of revolutionary movements
  – Skocpol just focuses on mobilization
• (2) Considers several aspects of states that affect mobilization and motive
  – Not just state breakdown

Question 7

Goodwin’s characteristics whether state contains or provokes revolutions

Answer 7

• Mixed Effects: Claims three state characteristics affect whether states contain or provoke revolutions
• (1) Inclusion-Exclusion: Ties between state and societal actors, ability of societal actors to participate in politics
  – Affects revolution in two ways
• No Other Way: Exclusion promotes revolution because people feel they can’t influence politics
  – Only way to influence politics is revolution
• Grievances: People dislike systems that don’t give them a say, so want to overthrow exclusive systems
• Importance of Democracy: Suggests democracy limits revolutions through inclusion
• (2) Bureaucratic-Patrimonial: Goodwin sees patrimonialism as personal rule, where power is endowed in the person, not the rules
  – Like Weber (Evans), believes patrimonialism has very negative effects organizational capacity of states
  – Bureaucracy promotes organizational capacity
• Revolutions are more likely to occur when states are organized patrimonially for three reasons:
• (1) Patrimonial states aren’t easily reformed
• (2) Patrimonial states have less capacity for services and are usually more coercive—grievances
• (3) Patrimonial states have less capacity to stop revolts
• (3) High or Low Infrastructural Power: infrastructural power involves the physical presence of states throughout the territory
  – Revolts are more successful when state isn’t present
  – Revolutions require autonomous space to organize
• State can’t contain
• Summary: (1) Exclusion creates grievances (provokes revolt), (2) Patrimonialism creates grievances and limits ability of states to contain revolt, (3) Infrastructural power limits ability of states to contain revolt
• Suggests that states are key to understanding revs.

Question 8

Goldstone: Population and Revolution

Answer 8

• Goldstone: Highlights three main mechanisms through which population growth contributes to revolutions
• (1) Decline in State Finances:
  – Population growth contributes to inflation, lowers state revenue because resources are spread thinly
  – Weakens the state, makes possible revolution
• (2) Elite Divisions: Population growth causes growing competition among the elites
  – Only limited number of elite positions
  – More and more elites left out when populations grow
  – Notes that aspiring yet frustrated elites often organize revolutionary movements
  – Creates grievances—Like Gurr’s theory
• (3) Grievances and Mass Mobilizational Potential:
  – Grievances: Peasants severely hit by pop. growth
• Especially, shortage of land
• Grievances motivate revolt
  – Pop. growth land shortage promote urbanization
• Facilitates mass mobilization by having many people living and interacting with one another
• Goldstone’s Conclusion: With population growth continuing today, we should expect revolutions to be increasingly common