Theories of revolution: the third generation after the eighties

ABSTRACT

During the past decade, the dominance of structuralist ‘Third Generation’ scholarship in the study of revolutions has been challenged by the emergence of a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. These have dislocated the understanding of revolution in five crucial areas: the relation of revolution to modernity, the role of ideas and political will, equality, war, and the importance of peasants. These dislocations are explored by surveying the literature to clarify the current research agenda and its future directions. The discussion is situated in the context of debates about modernity and postmodernism, the search for overarching explanation and epistemological relativism.