1. Modern Revolutions in Comparative Perspective
Jan Plamper

2. Week 1
Introduction
Lecture
Q&A
Seminars

3. Introduction 1 about me all PowerPoints on VLE after lecture
ask questions

4. Introduction 2 Policies
intercollegiate courses only if 80% attendance + all assigments submitted
for condoned absence: History main office before seminar; include full name + student ID# + reason for absence
always use Goldsmiths , never private
check Goldsmiths on daily basis
if there are problems, talk to us before it is too late (Personal Tutor, Senior Tutor, main office, me)

5. Introduction 3 my consultation and feedback times in RHB 289:
Wednesday 9-10am
Thursday 9-10am my

6. Introduction 4 Assessment:
summative: diss. of 6k words for year 2 and 8k words for year 3 (85% of final mark); outline and bibliography (15% of final mark)  diligently follow assignment submission process on VLE
formative: 1. three short in-class tests. 2. groupwork exercise in which students work in teams

7. Revolution
389 million Google hits for ‘revolution’  revolution everyhwere

8. Revolution everywhere 1

9. Revolution everywhere 2
Windows Phone7: ‘the Revolution is coming…’

10. Revolution everywhere 3
Carver Revolution 110

11. Revolution everywhere 4
Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939)

12. Revolution everywhere 5

13. Revolution everywhere 5
But… old, pre-2011 government rested on army + Mubarak clan New, post-‘revolutioniary’, post-Muslim Brotherhood, post-July 2013-ousting of Morsi government rests on… army, esp. General Sisi

14. What follows from all of this?
 self-descriptions (historical actors call events they are living through a ‘revolution’) will not suffice  as historians, we need an analytical term of revolution that transcends self-descriptions

15. Definitions
from Latin revolutio = upheaval, antonym of evolutio = (gradual) unfolding/unrolling
different from ‘revolt’, ‘insurrection’, ‘rebellion’, ‘coup d’état’, ‘uprising’, ‘war of independence’  revolution seems to imply a more long-lasting change
esp. in modernity seems to imply a radical, long-term change of several, perhaps all, spheres of society: politics, economy, society, culture

16. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
various definitions by various scholarly disciplines (history, sociology, political science etc.)
where do these definitions come from, what do they tell us about a discipline, a mode of inquiry?

17. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
‘If the necessity for [reforms] comes in troubled times, you are too late for harsh measures; and mild ones will not help you…’ Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1532)

18. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
‘Charismatic authority is thus specifically outside the realm of everyday routine…. In this respect, it is sharply opposed both to rational, and particularly bureaucratic, authority, and to traditional authority…. Bureaucratic authority is specifically rational in the sense of being bound to intellectually analyzable rules; while charismatic authority is specifically irrational in the sense of being foreign to all rules…. Within the sphere of its claims, charismatic authority repudiates the past, and is in this sense a specifically revolutionary force….’ Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization (original published in 1922)

19. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
‘The revolution does not begin with the attack of a powerful new force upon the state. It begins simply with a sudden recognition by almost all the passive and active membership that the state no longer exists…. Revolutionists enter the limelight, not like men on horseback, as victorious conspirators appearing in the forum, but like fearful children, exploring an empty house, not sure that it is empty.’ George Pettee, The Process of Revolution (1938)

20. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
‘The great majority of peasant movements historically, far from being affairs of rising expectations, have rather been defensive efforts to preserve customary rights or to restore them once they have been lost.’ James Scott, ‘Peasant Revolution: A Dismal Science’ (1977)

21. Themes of course: Definitions of revolutions
process of defining revolution = open-ended!

22. Themes of course: Causes and course of revolutions
interest in causes is itself historically shaped. Not all forms of historical inquiry are interested in causal explanations. Discourse analysis, for ex., is not; it is satisfied in describing discursive ‘shifts’.
‘the course of revolutions’  event-based history

23. Themes of course: Causes and course of revolutions
examples:
causes of French Revolution:
rise of a new class (the Third Estate) without political representation
inability of state to generate tax revenue and perform its functions (waging war, fixed bread prices)
Course of French Revolution:
- July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille etc.

24. Themes of course: Symbols and rituals in revolutions
course: Romania, 21 Dec. 1989, Ceaucescu’s last speech (after 34 years of dictatorial rule)

25. Themes of course: Symbols and rituals in revolutions
symbols and rituals – like discourse – have moved to the fore since the 1980s: poststructuralist, new cultural history. Emphasis on representations rather than unmediated history.

26. Themes of course: Symbols and rituals in revolutions
example: pamphlet with caricature of Marie Antoinette and General Lafayette, 1780s

27. Themes of course: Ideas underpinning revolutions
political philosophy: Enlightenment (Montesquieu, Locke, Hobbes, Voltaire, Diderot et al.)
this brings us to last theme:

28. Themes of course: How come extremely good causes...
Alexandra Kollontai ( ) 1919: 1st female government minister in Europe 1923: world's 1st female ambassador

29. ...extremely good causes...
literacy rate in Cuba in 1959 before the Cuban Revolution: 60-76% literacy rate in Cuba in 1961 after the Cuban Revolution and a literacy campaign: 96%

30. ...lead to extreme violence?
Guillotine during Terror in French Revolution

31. ...lead to extreme violence?
Starved children, victims of the Ukrainian famine of

32. Five Seminars Seminar 1: Thursday, 11-12 in NAB 302:
Oliver Yorke-Charlotte Stanners
Seminar 2: Thursday, 12-1 in RHB 342:
Claire Smith-Karl Lyons
Seminar 3: Thursday, 2-3 in RHB 141:
Peter Littlejohns-Daniel Green
Seminar 4: Thursday, 3-4 in RHB 141:
Taleisha Gilbert-Anna Charlton
Seminar 5: Thursday, 4-5 in RHB 141:
Dionne Brown-Lillian Aaron