古代から今日までの歴史の中で起きた革命を振り返り、革命とはどのように始まり、どのように展開してきたかを検証し、革命が世界のできごとと人々の想像力を支配し続ける理由を検討します。新版は革命の発生要因、指導者の役割、革命的変化の戦略とプロセス、大国の力関係の変化と革命との関係性など、主要な革命論についての解説を追加しています。さらにSNSと非暴力が現代の革命に果たす役割、民主主義から内戦、権威主義的支配に至るまで多様な革命がもたらした結果とその理由、今後起こりうる革命についても考察します。
 

• Includes an expansive historical range, from ancient Greece and Rome to the revolutions of modern day
• First synthesis of structural and cultural approaches to revolution studies
• Explores the role of cyberspace and social media in modern revolutions

New to this Edition:

• Fully updated and revised
• Includes new information on recent revolutions or regime overthrows in Afghanistan, Armenia, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Bolivia, Ukraine, Chile, Algeria, and Kyrgyzstan

   
In their pursuit of social justice, revolutionaries have taken on the assembled might of monarchies, empires, and dictatorships. They have often, though not always, sparked cataclysmic violence, and have at times won miraculous victories, though at other times suffered devastating defeat.
   
This Very Short Introduction illuminates the revolutionaries, their strategies, their successes and failures, and the ways in which revolutions continue to dominate world events and the popular imagination. Starting with the city-states of ancient Greece and Rome, Jack Goldstone traces the development of revolutions through the Renaissance and Reformation, the Enlightenment and liberal constitutional revolutions such as in America, and their opposite--the communist revolutions of the 20th century. He shows how revolutions overturned dictators in Nicaragua and Iran and brought the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and examines the new wave of non-violent "color" revolutions--the Philippines' Yellow Revolution, Ukraine's Orange Revolution--and the Arab Uprisings of 2011-12 that rocked the Middle East.
   
In this new edition, Goldstone also sheds light on the major theories of revolution, exploring the causes of revolutionary waves, the role of revolutionary leaders, the strategies and processes of revolutionary change, and the intersection between revolutions and shifting patterns of global power. Further, he explores the role social media and nonviolence play in modern revolutions. Finally, he examines the reasons for diverse revolutionary outcomes, from democracy to civil war and authoritarian rule, and the likely future of revolution in years to come.