Colin J. Beck, Mlada Bukovansky, Erica Chenoweth, George Lawson, Sharon Erickson Nepstad, and Daniel P. Ritter. On Revolutions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.

From Oxford University Press’s website:

A cutting-edge appraisal of revolution and its future.

On Revolutions, co-authored by six prominent scholars of revolutions, reinvigorates revolutionary studies for the twenty-first century. Integrating insights from diverse fields–including civil resistance studies, international relations, social movements, and terrorism–they offer new ways of thinking about persistent problems in the study of revolution. This book outlines an approach that reaches beyond the common categorical distinctions. As the authors argue, revolutions are not just political or social, but they feature many types of change. Structure and agency are not mutually distinct; they are mutually reinforcing processes. Contention is not just violent or nonviolent, but it is usually a mix of both. Revolutions do not just succeed or fail, but they achieve and simultaneously fall short. And causal conditions are not just domestic or international, but instead, they are dependent on the interplay of each. Demonstrating the merits of this approach through a wide range of cases, the authors explore new opportunities for conceptual thinking about revolution, provide methodological advice, and engage with the ethical issues that exist at the nexus of scholarship and activism.

Advance praise for On Revolutions:

“Yet another primer on revolutionary theory? Not this one! This book reflects on the major typologies of revolutions and finds them wanting, opting instead for a rich and thoughtful examination of actual revolutions, their rooting in domestic and international factors, and their profound importance for political regimes. A must read for students of revolutions, social movements, and contentious politics in general.” –Sidney Tarrow, Emeritus Maxwell Upson Professor of Government, Cornell University

“If replacing old dichotomies with fresh synthesis is the basis for progress, as Hegel argued, then this volume means progress in the study of revolutions is finally at hand.  The authors of this powerful volume move revolutionary theory away from its old obsessions with “Great” Revolutions and big structural causes, providing instead to a far richer, more multi-causal analysis of the regime changes that have marked the last five decades, from the anti-communist upheavals of 1989 to the Arab uprisings of 2011.   These events have become the template for modern revolutions, and this book is a triumph in understanding their development and impact.” – Jack A. Goldstone, George Mason University