Why revolutions take place

Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. What is a revolution? What causes revolutions? Revolutionary processes, leaders, and outcomes 4. Revolutions in the ancient world 5. Revolutions of the Renaissance and Reformation 6. Communist revolutions: Russia, China, and Cuba 8. People began to believe change was necessary for society to progress.

Between and , philosophical and political ideas were changing rapidly throughout the world. The Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation all took place during this time period, and people expanded their worldviews as they gained knowledge of new concepts and accepted new ideas.

At this time in Europe, most countries had absolute monarchies, and people began to question the power of absolute governments. As their discontent grew, their questions turned to protests. A wave of revolutions took place in the s, an era commonly known as the Age Enlightenment—revolutions in France, in Latin America, and in the American colonies. In all these countries, the revolutions not only changed the political systems and replaced them with new ones, but they altered public belief and brought about sweeping changes in society as a whole.

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Southwestern professor says social scientists need to look beyond factors they have traditionally considered. September 29, The study of the great revolutions of the past shows that they occur in countries that encounter fundamental challenges, which may be a consequence of local or of global processes, to which their institutional structures and the psychological outlook of the populations have rendered them unable to adapt themselves in the time available.

This incapacity to adapt manifests itself in a progressive narrowing of remedial options that might, were the state stronger, produce sufficiently robust policies to remove the internal constraints that impede the adaptation required. The result is a sequence of fragmentation and breakdown processes, which the state is increasingly powerless to resist. Keywords: theory of revolution. Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service.

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