Revolutions

Question 1

Michael Kimmel definition

Answer 1

“Revolutions are attempts by subordinate groups to transform the social foundations of political power”

Question 2

Jack Goldstone on nonviolence

Answer 2

1. nonviolent resistance works best when rulers depend on support from a democratic foreign power that will neither tolerate ruthless actions against a peaceful opposition, nor pay the high price to back the existing regime
2. mid-1980s several factors improved prospects for nonviolent resistance to overturn regimes
   (a) global practices moved in direction of requiring elections to confer legitimacy
   (b) mass media made it easier for opposition to record abuses of regime
   (c) rise of international network of activists to provide training in nonviolent resistance methods

Question 3

Norman Cohn and apocalypticism

Answer 3

illustrates how in situations of anxiety and unrest traditional beliefs come to serve as vehicles for social aspirations and animosities

Question 4

apocalypticism

Answer 4

1. the belief that the end of the world is imminent
2. many apocalyptic thinkers worked forward to the end of time, or in some cases, the restoration of a better time after the coming

Question 5

Michael Kimmel and the moral economy perspective

Answer 5

1. emphasises the role of emotions, important in driving revolutionary activity
2. despair makes revolutionary activity necessary AND hope transforms rebellion or revolt into purposeful and visionary movement

Question 6

oppression in East Germany

Answer 6

1. economic failure: outdated production facilities and methods caused
2. Berlin Wall functioned as an emblematic symbol of repression: fortified the western borders of the GDR, many people who attempted to flee were killed by border guars or booby traps

Question 7

James Krapfl on CZ

Answer 7

CZs rejected Soviet regime because it was inhumane, not because it was socialist

Question 8

Oppression in CZ

Answer 8

1. 1968 Prague Spring: period of political liberalisation and mass protest after WW2 in CZ economic inefficiency and environmental damage detrimental to peoples’ health
   August: Soviet Union and other members of Warsaw Pact invaded to suppress reforms of Alexander Dubcek
   New York Times cited reports of 650,000 men equipped with most modern weapons of Soviet military catalogue
   Brezhnev Doctrine announced to retroactively justify invasion
2. 17 Nov 1989: brutal suppression of peaceful student-led demonstration in Prague commemorating 50th anniversary of Nazi German storming of Czech universities
   widely circulated emotive reports depicting brutality of police

Question 9

unique demographic of Saint Domingue

Answer 9

1. 1789: 480,000 slaves, 28,000 free people of colour, 30,000 whites
2. every sector of society in state of unrest: slave and master, mulatto and white, poor white and rich white, mulattoes envied whites and despised blacks, creole slaves looked down on African slaves

Question 10

Carolyn Fick

Answer 10

“the greater the need for profits, the greater and more insidious the violence”

Question 11

experience of slaves

Answer 11

1. death rate exceeded the birth rate, so imports of enslaved Africans were necessary to maintain the numbers required to work the plantations; among biggest importer of slaves in the world
2. suffered overwork, inadequate food and shelter, insufficient clothing and medical care

Question 12

Bois Caimann Ceremony

Answer 12

1. Aug 1971
2. voodoo expressly forbidden in colonies, however prevailed despite efforts to crush it
   one of the few areas of totally autonomous activity for African slaves
3. source of psychological liberation, enabled slaves to break away from the very real and concrete chains of slavery and to see themselves as independent beings
4. gave slaves a sense of human dignity and enabled them to survive, and empowered them to fight

Question 13

impact of French Revolution on Saint Domingue

Answer 13

1. 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man: declared all men free and equal
2. Haitian Revolution became a test of the ideology of the French Revolution
3. radicalised slavery question and forced French leaders to recognise the full meaning of their revolution
4. 1790 Ogé Rebellion
   wealthy free man of colour returned from Paris, convinced that Declaration of Rights of Man meant that wealthy men of colour had full civil rights, demanded the right to vote but denied
5. led brief insurrection, captured in 1791 and brutally executed
6. although not fighting against slavery, his treatment was cited by later slave rebels as one of the factors in their decision to rise up

Question 14

Padriac Kenney on Gorbachev

Answer 14

“From Gorbachev, economic reformers and democratic thinkers got the signal to push their ideas”

Question 15

glasnost

Answer 15

1. openness and transparency in government institutions and activities
2. reflected commitment to getting Soviet citizens to discuss publicly problems of their system and seek solutions

Question 16

John Foran

Answer 16

1. American sociology of culture approach developed during 1980s
2. politcal culture: describes the plurivocal and potentially radical ways of understanding one’s circumstances that various groups within society sometimes articulate to make sense of political and economic changes they experiencing
3. culture central to making sense of process of populist alliance

Question 17

John Foran on political culture of Eastern Europe

Answer 17

1. socialism came to E Eu from the outside, imposed by the USSR
2. created dependent development which corresponded to particular state ideology of state socialism
3. eventually political repression and economic stagnation engendered political cultures of opposition
4. adopted language of democratic and citizens rights, combined with nationalistic resistance to Soviet domination and conservative undercurrent provided by religion
5. nonviolence ethical significance
6. political culture consisted of diffuse counter ideology of democracy, sovereignty and the market

Question 18

significance of ideology

Answer 18

1. central to transforming socioeconomic grievances into movement that seeks to change social foundations of political power
2. transforms discontent among certain groups into unified opposition with the aim of changing system

Question 19

primary causes of revolutions

Answer 19

1. ideological causes: Lynn Hunt
2. socioeconomic causes: Marx
3. state power causes: Skocpol

Question 20

significance of socioeconomic causes

Answer 20

1. class analysis: peasants or workers disillusioned, peasants want land reform, workers want unions, increased wages, worker autonomy
2. Marx: history of humanity is history of revolutions consequences of class struggle

Question 21

significance of state power

Answer 21

1. state weak due to geopolitical conflict

2. without capacity to suppress revolution

Question 22

Mark Katz

Answer 22

revolutions are either “against” or “for”