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Bibframe Work

Title
The revolutionary city
Type
Text
Monograph
Contribution
Beissinger, Mark R. (author)
Subject
Revolutions (LCSH)
Sociology, Urban (LCSH)
Urbanization--Political aspects (LCSH)
Regime change (LCSH)
Language
English (eng)
Classification
LCC: HM876 (Assigner: dlc) (Status: used by assigner)
DDC: 307.76 full (Assigner: dlc)(Source: 23)
Supplementary Content
bibliography (bibliography)
index (index)
Content
text (txt)
Summary
"For many decades, "social revolutions" have been a major focus of social scientific work. Defined by Theda Skocpol in her classic work States and Social Revolutions as "rapid, basic transformations of a society's state and class structures that are accompanied and in part carried through by mass based revolts from below," these types of revolutions have become much less frequent, which has led some political scientists to believe that the age of revolutions is over. Yet as Beissinger argues, while social revolutions are on the decline, another, unrecognized type is on the rise: the "urban civic" revolution. These rebellions (the revolutions in Tunisia and Ukraine, for example) are characterized not by armed rebellion, widespread street-fighting, or urban rioting, but instead by attempts to mobilize as many people as possible in central urban spaces in a concentrated period of time-paralyzing commerce, administration, and society through the power of numbers with the hope of inducing regime collapse. Because much of the theory and understanding of revolutionary activity-and its outcome-is still based around work on social revolutions, social science is working with an outdated understanding of how revolutions happen, and the shape they may take in the future. This book seeks to address this and to demonstrate that revolution as a mass political project of regime-change has actually become more frequent. Using data on the outcomes of 343 revolutionary episodes around the world from 1900 to 2014, Beissinger develops a theory of urban revolution, places this explosion of urban revolutionary contention into global historical perspective, and shows how these revolutions happen and whether and when they succeed. He focuses on how the spatial context of revolt (namely, the city) alters the character of revolutions and the options states have in addressing and repressing them. Crucially, Beissinger argues, cities present certain advantages to revolutionaries; as they succeed, and as urbanization continues, revolutions may see more success than they have historically"-- Provided by publisher
Table Of Contents
List of illustrations
List of tables
Preface
Introduction: revolution and the city
A spatial theory of revolution
The growth and urbanization of revolution
The urban civic revolutionary moment
The repression-disruption trade-off and the shifting odds of success
Revolutionary contingency and the city
Public space and urban revolution
The individual and collective action in urban civic revolution
The pacification of revolution
The evolving impact of revolution
The city and the future of revolution
Appendix 1. construction of cross-national data on revolutionary episodes
Appendix 2. revolutionary episodes, 1900-2014
Appendix 3. data sources used in statistical analyses
Appendix 4. choices of statistical models.
Authorized Access Point
Beissinger, Mark R. The revolutionary city
Admin Metadata
Status: new
Date: 2021-06-30
Admin Metadata
Status: changed
Date: 2023-10-06T08:06:11
Description Modifier: United States, Library of Congress
Admin Metadata
Status: changed
Date: 2024-08-03T16:39:05.868911-04:00
Admin Metadata
Encoding Level: full
Identified By: bf:Local, 22171390
Description Language: English
Description Authentication: pcc