A Revolution in the Theory of Revolutions?

Abstract

The events of 1989 in the East-Central European belt of satel lite communist regimes was a most fitting finale for the twentieth century, bound to be recorded in history as the age of revolutions. They changed the political map of the globe, affecting even parts ostensibly distant from the scene of the upheaval in ways which are yet far from being grasped in full. They are also certain to be scrutinized for the corrections they offer to our orthodox views of how revolutions come about and how they are conducted. This brief paper is concerned only with the second issue. It considers the extent to which the collapse of the communist regimes confirms or defies the extant theory of revolution. Given the limitations of time and space, the paper aims at no more than sketching a few prelim inary suggestions.