Revolutions

Definitions and Categories

Definitions of revolution are almost as numerous and various as the analyses undertaken to investigate the phenomenon. In its broadest sense, a revolution is the rapid transformation of the fundamental structures on which a society, a state, or both are built. Thus, we can distinguish three types of revolution (see Figure 1) that can be differentiated by their object of alteration and the role of agency in the process: social revolutions, political revolutions, and great (or sociopolitical) revolutions.

Figure 1 Types of revolutions.

Social revolutions transform the social relations among the members of a society. These processes, such as the industrial revolution, the agrarian revolution, the “silent revolution” in postmodern societies, or the revolution in information and [Page 1487]communication technologies, can hardly be pinpointed to specific agents of change but to structural causes and are—on their own—not accompanied by violent actions.

Political revolutions are the most common category and change (or aim to change) the political institutions of a state. They are usually carried out by a set of identifiable actors who may, but do not necessarily have to, resort to violence in the process.

Great (or sociopolitical) revolutions transform, according to Theda Skocpol, both a society's state and class structures and are the product of large-scale structural forces as well as the actions of specific agents.

Although the literature on revolutions has dealt in depth with political and great revolutions, which are a product of structural forces and specific agents, it has largely neglected social revolutions.

Political and Great Revolutions

Political and great revolutions are similar in process, yet they differ in their respective outcomes. Political revolutions, if successful, alter a state's political institutions, while great revolutions transform both the political and social underlying principles of a society. As Roderick Aya points out, they are characterized by both the explicit intention and proclamation of a transformation, which makes them distinct from coups, civil wars, or rebellions, which lack such a wide-ranging ambition. Revolutions have been sub-categorized along a multitude of criteria. If agency lies primarily in the hand of elites, we speak of revolutions from above. When they are carried out predominantly by social movements, they satisfy the common notion of a revolution from below. Revolutions are initiated either at the center (usually in the capital) or in the periphery and are guided by divergent ideological underpinnings (liberal versus communist versus Islamic revolutions).

Waves of Revolution

Most revolutions have occurred in waves. A revolutionary wave can be defined as a group of revolutions with similar objectives and, according to Mark N. Katz, takes usually one of two forms: A “for” wave consists of revolutions that aim to establish a particular political or sociopolitical system such as liberalism or Arab nationalism. Conversely, an “against” wave aims for the abolition of a certain sociopolitical system, like anticolonialism or anti-monarchism. Four waves of revolutions can be detected, starting in the late 18th

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