Revolutions

Question 1

Goldstone on two visions of revolution.

Answer 1

‘One is the heroic vision of revolution. In this view, downtrodden masses are raised up by leaders who guide them in overthrowing unjust rulers, enabling the people to gain their freedom and dignity.’ The other is ‘that revolutions are eruptions of popular anger that produce chaos. In this view, however well-meaning, reformers who unleash the mob find the masses demanding blood and creating waves of violence that destroy even the revolutionary leaders.’

Question 2

Why do revolutions arise according to Goldstone?

Answer 2

Only when rulers become weak and isolated. When elites attack rather than defend the government.

Question 3

Best definition of revolution according to Goldstone.

Answer 3

In terms of both observed mass mobilization and institutional change, and a driving ideology carrying a vision of social justice

Question 4

How is rebellion different to revolution.

Answer 4

A rebellion is an act by someone that refuses to recognise the authority of the existing government. Can be elite or popular. Any revolution is by definition a rebellion.

Question 5

Where revolutions tend to occur

Answer 5

Middle Income countries. Poor peasants not able to overthrow professional armies.

Question 6

How modernisation can be blamed for rev.

Answer 6

As people start to encounter free markets, inequality rises and traditional patterns of authority lose power. In some countries modernisation brought smooth transition to democracy. In some revs occurred as modernisation was beginning (Japan, China) and in others it was long after it had been accomplished (Eastern Europe).

Question 7

How leaders change in the years leading to revolution according to Goldstone.

Answer 7

‘The rulers have become weakened, erratic, or predatory so that many of the elites no longer feel rewarded or supported, and are not inclined to support the regime.’

Question 8

Elements considered necessary by scholars to create unequal social equilibrium.

Answer 8

Economic strains, growing alienation of elites, popular anger/injustice, ideology of resistance, favourable international relations.

Question 9

Two types of revolution according to Goldstone.

Answer 9

Political and social.

Question 10

‘Great’ Revolutions

Answer 10

The French, Russian and Chinese.

Question 11

Hobsbawm on the use of the word revolution.

Answer 11

Can become a synonym for any noticeable change which takes place faster than others. All definitions assume a chronological and universal applicability of the concept of revolution. Historians doubtful of universality.

Question 12

Hobsbawm on when revs conclude.

Answer 12

‘Revolutions cannot be said ‘conclude’ until they have either been overthrown or are sufficiently safe from overthrow.’

Question 13

Hobsbawm on when it is easy to determine the end of revolution.

Answer 13

When revolutions have negative aims . Example of the Irish revolution, could visibly go no further.

Question 14

George Lawson on broader family of processes that revolution is a part of.

Answer 14

Civil wars, coup d’etats, rebellions, transitions, reform programmes.

Question 15

George Lawson on the two faces of revolution.

Answer 15

‘On the one hand, they represent the most intense means through which publics around the world have attempted to overcome conditions of injustice. In this sense, revolutions represent the outer limits of the politics of the possible, expressions of an apparently universal proclivity to challenge forms of gross inequity. On the other hand, this expression –and the struggle it generates –is always excessive, incorporating methods that are necessarily transgressive. This transgressive excess leads revolutions away from emancipation and towards tyranny.’

Question 16

Negotiated revolutions of 1989.

Answer 16

Stem from systemic crisis. Taken on non-violent character, discussion main tool, between the old regime and the revolutionaries. Main demands political injustice rather than economic inequality.

Question 17

Why did the 1989 revolutions not unleash counter-revolutionary powers.

Answer 17

They did not seek to export revolution and thus did not threaten international order.

Question 18

Family of revolutions that 1989 revs and Arab uprisings belong to according to Lawson.

Answer 18

‘Civilising and democratising’ revolutions whose roots can be traced back to the American Revolution.

Question 19

Tocqueville on French revolutions relationship with the church.

Answer 19

Its hatred was born less out of distaste of religious doctrine and rather the political institution that Christianity aroused. Opposed it because priests were landowners, feudal lords, tithe collectors and administrators

Question 20

Tocqueville on the lack of split with the ancien regime.

Answer 20

If you compare the two regimes you see glimmerings of consolation and hope. Most important legislation passed by the national assembly clearly favourable to monarchical government. Central government has managed to converge the powers that were previously divided among many secondary powers.

Question 21

Tocqueville’s view of the essential achievement of the French rev.

Answer 21

To bring the system to a sudden conclusion rather than leaving it to crumble little by little on its own.

Question 22

Date of the first known use of revolution to mean overthrow of social order.

Answer 22

1526

Question 23

George Wharton on revolution (contemporary in 17th century)

Answer 23

Happy and unexpected revolution of government; viz. of turning from anarchy to the most natural of all governments, Monarchy.’ - referring to return to previous social order as revolution.

Question 24

First wave of revolutions according to Motadel

Answer 24

The Atlantic Wave, began in America in 1776, then France. Sparked the Haitian rev, Irish rebellion and revolutionary wars in Latin America.

Question 25

Constitutional wave of revolution

Answer 25

Early 20th century in Japan, Middle East, reaching Europe with the Greek Revolution of 1909, the Portuguese Revolution of 1910, and the 1910 Constitutional Revolution of Monaco – and even America.’

Question 26

Reason for revolutionary ideas to resonate beyond borders.

Answer 26

Revolutionaries made universal claims.

Question 27

Motadel on concept of revolution.

Answer 27

The concept of “revolution,” although central to our political vocabulary, lacks semantic clarity. Its definition has differed dramatically across time and space.’ Can mean different things in different settings. If we use western standards it may make revolutions that do not conform to these standards look deficient.

Question 28

Historic use of the word revolution over time according to Motadel.

Answer 28

Pre French rev it was talking about the cyclical turn to the previous political order. Hobbes used the word to characterise the upheavals from the 1640s to 60s as a cycle of political orders. Similarly, glorious revolution termed a revolution in the sense that it constituted a cycle that started with overthrow of James II and ended with establishment of William and Mary.

Question 29

Hannah Arendt on when revolutions start to occur.

Answer 29

“revolutions, properly speaking, did not exist prior to the modern age,” which is hard to dispute if we compare her modern notion of “revolution” with that of pre-modern thinkers.

Question 30

Skocpol's definition of revolution.

Answer 30

‘upheavals that lead to a “rapid” and “basic” transformation of not only the political order but also society and class structure.’

Question 31

Motadel's definition of revolutionary wave.

Answer 31

A series of revolutions with similar aims which break out in different states around the same time and which are connected by common external causes or (and) because they directly impact each other.’

Question 32

Global impact of Russian rev.

Answer 32

Founded a new culture that took everybody into consideration and thus immediately acquired international significance. Revolutionary wave included November 1918 rev in Germany and Hungarian revolution of 1919, Slovak rev of 1919, Limerick Soviet in Ireland in 1919, and Galician Soviet Socialist Republic formed in 1920. Was rev in Iran at the same time.

Question 33

Destabilising event leading to red wave.

Answer 33

WW1. last years witnessed collapse of social, economic and political orders around the world. Left European empires shattered.

Question 34

Reasons for uprising against Romans in Britannia.

Answer 34

Born out of debt that Claudius had put Britons in. Seneca had also lent them money at high interest rate.

Question 35

Background to Judean revolt

Answer 35

Jews not accepted in Roman society, seen as 'other', a group that did not fit in. Were religious differences with the Romans.

Question 36

Arendt on only semi-successful modern revolution.

Answer 36

The American revolution. Was the ultimate goal of all modern revolutions, to constitute space of public freedom.

Question 37

Robert Albion on communications revolution.

Answer 37

Must be separated from industrial revolution. Focused very much on the USA, introduction of the postal system leading to ideas of the nation forming.

Question 38

Richard John on communications revolution

Answer 38

Agreed that US was revolutionary in character. Separated Albion’s criteria into innovations based on technological discoveries or development of new energy sources and those which generated higher speeds by improvement to infrastructure. Introduction of the postal system was the most significant development in bringing about technological revolution.

Question 39

Wolfgang Berhinger on the basis of Communications Revolution

Answer 39

Not communication technology on its own but its position within society.

Question 40

Link between increased pace of historical events and growth of communications.

Answer 40

Beginning of modern period saw portioning of space which linked to increased pace of historical events.

Question 41

Clifton Kroeber on the two assumptions that make up base of almost all revolutionary thought.

Answer 41

The belief that very few revolutions have been incomparable, the ‘great’ revolutions. The other is that revolution is only successful where it overturns a regime.

Question 42

Jack Goldstone on typical cause of revolution in Early Modern Europe

Answer 42

" Caused by the incapacity of agrarian economies, and of their attendant social and political institutions, to cope with the pressures of sustained population increase".

Question 43

Two views of revolutionary duration.

Answer 43

One has it that we can deem something revolution so long as change continues toward radical objectives. The other is that as it slows and weakens, we see no more than efforts at reform.

Question 44

Kroeber's definition of revolution.

Answer 44

All demands, suggestions, and attempts at radical change and, in addition, all unplanned changes equally basic.’

Question 45

Why Ghandi was revolutionary

Answer 45

His effort to bring down the establishment was radical. It brought the end to colonial rule.

Question 46

Kroeber on why there may not be rules of revolution.

Answer 46

Whilst therorists have suggested that increase in pop along with decline in agriculture and government is what brings regimes to crises and revolution it did not occur in many cases, Saint Domingue, India, Taiping.

Question 47

Difference between the institutions that French and Haitian revolutions arose from.

Answer 47

French from monarchy and Haitian from slavery.

Question 48

What idea did the Americans base their revolution off?

Answer 48

Natural rights independent of any government or social structure.

Question 49

The eras that Marx divides society in to.

Answer 49

Primitive communism, slave society, feudal society, capitalist society, communist society.

Question 50

What makes revolution occur according to Marx

Answer 50

When two classes within society compete for control over the means of production. The class in control of production is challenged bu the exploited underclass.

Question 51

Years of Hobsbawm's age of revolutions.

Answer 51

1789-1848

Question 52

Why nationalism undermined revolutionary prospects in Europe.

Answer 52

Were elitist in nature and bourgeois membership underlined class interest that preceded nationalist identity. Could not have a positive relationship with revolution.

Question 53

Skocpol's definition of social revolution.

Answer 53

'Rapid, basic transformations of a society’s state and class structures; and they are accompanied and in part carried through by class-based revolts from below.’

Question 54

How political revolutions differ to social revolutions according to Skocpol.

Answer 54

Political revolutions transform state rather than social structures and are not necessarily accomplished through class conflict. Societal change can take place without need for political upheavals.

Question 55

Four major families of revolutionary theory

Answer 55

Marxist, aggregate-psychological, Systems value consensus, political conflict

Question 56

Aim of Aggregate-psychological theories

Answer 56

Attempt to explain revolutions by analysing people’s psychological motivations. Generally caused by popular anger and discontent.

Question 57

Aim of Systems value consensus theories

Answer 57

Attempt to explain revolutions as violent responses of ideological movements to severe disequilibrium in social systems.

Question 58

Aim of Political conflict theories

Answer 58

Argue that conflict among governments and various organised groups contending for power must be placed at centre of attention to explain violence and revolution.

Question 59

Why do people become angry in Gurr's view?

Answer 59

When there is a gap between what they feel they are entitled to and what they actually get.

Question 60

What is a value orientation?

Answer 60

In the broadest sense, an individual or group's principles of right and wrong, or the values they hold regarding life, relationships and the environment.

Question 61

Goal of the cultural revolution

Answer 61

Launched by Mao in order to remove his rivals in the party.

Question 62

Two phases of the cultural revolution

Answer 62

First from 1966-1971. Produced art focused on destroying the old culture and system and codifying the cult of Mao. Second phase from 1971-76 saw Mao’s wife assert a more centralised role which yielded images made in the mediums of high art such as oil on canvas or ink on Chinese paper, as well as a remarkably uniform national style.

Question 63

The four olds

Answer 63

Old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits. Used by the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses.

Question 64

Aim of red guard art

Answer 64

To create directness and urgency of wartime propaganda like the 1940s. Revolutionary agenda of such art accompanied claims of collectivist processes of production.

Question 65

Underlying aesthetic of the art of the cultural revolution.

Answer 65

Red tonalities would dominate paintings. would show Mao as a central, illuminated figure. A departure from Soviet style realism and dull colours.

Question 66

In what way was Russian Revolution successful?

Answer 66

Destroyed the class power of the dominant landlord capitalists and replaced it with working class rule.

Question 67

Why did the working class lose their power over the course of first decade of Soviet rule?

Answer 67

Material pressure, system moved towards industrialisation and thus exploitation of the workers.

Question 68

Perry Anderson's definition of revolution

Answer 68

‘An episode of political transformation that has a determinate beginning – when the old state apparatus is still intact – and a finite end, when that apparatus is decisively ended and a new one erected in its stead’.

Question 69

Neil Davis on difference between political and social revolutions.

Answer 69

Political about control of the state and can take place within socioeconomic structure. Social revolutions involve change from one socioeconomic structure to another.

Question 70

Essential feature of a socialist revolution

Answer 70

Establishes working class rule, makes them the dominant ruling class. Only exists as the democratic control of society by the working class.

Question 71

Most important reason for the end of working-class rule in Russia.

Answer 71

The disruption of urban life caused by outbreak of civil war. Bolsheviks had to transform from rebels to rulers despite a lack of plan.

Question 72

New Economic Policy of the socialists

Answer 72

Held that economic liberalisation required an intensification of the party's monopoly of power and the party leaders increasingly willing to voice their absolute right to rule.

Question 73

How the party became the ruling class in the Soviet Union

Answer 73

During civil war was able to get a better grip on society as would direct surplus forces at fighting whites. As collective, ruling members of party exercised control over means of production, exploited urban and rural producers and decided what would be done with surplus.

Question 74

Reason it was so hard for revolutionaries to dismantle the Austrian empire.

Answer 74

Italians failed to reverse Austrian strategic superiority or diminish the warfighting capabilities of Radetzky's forces.

Question 75

Counter-Revolution in Paris

Answer 75

Revolution shuts itself down. Due to June Days, workers and radicals pitted against the liberal movement. Cavaignac given dictatorial powers in order to crush the revolt. He was given these powers by the government who were a product of the revolution.

Question 76

Louis Napoleon on revolution

Answer 76

Cannot just be done by violent forces, there must be a figure who can make clarity out of what happened at the revolution, they take out the good parts of the revolution, restoring order and making progress.