Description
Book SynopsisTheda Skocpol shows how state structures, international forces, and class relations combine to explain the origins and accomplishments of social-revolutionary transformations. Believing that existing theories of revolution, both Marxist and non-Marxist, are inadequate to explain the actual historical patterns of revolutions, Skocpol urges the reader to adopt fresh perspectives.
Trade Review'With lucidity and care, Skocpol has laid out a challenging comparison of three great revolutions … Here is a book worth studying, refuting, testing, elaborating, and emulating.' Charles Tilly
'I am convinced that States and Social Revolutions will be considered a landmark in the study of the sources of revolution.' Lewis A. Coser, The New York Times Book Review
Table of ContentsList of tables and maps; Preface; Introduction; 1. Explaining social revolutions: alternatives to existing theories; Part I. Causes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia and China: 2. Old-regime states in crisis; 3. Agrarian structures and peasant insurrections; Part II. Outcomes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia and China: 4. What changed and how: a focus on state building; 5. The birth of a 'modern state edifice' in France; 6. The emergence of a dictatorial party-state in Russia; 7. The rise of a mass-mobilizing party-state in China; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.
