Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T17:08:34.246Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - From Social Movement to Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2019

Mehran Kamrava
Mehran Kamrava
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Qatar
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines the causes and processes of spontaneous revolutions, focusing on how state crises and weaknesses provide space and opportunity for localized expressions of political anger and other sparks for social movements. If, as encouraged by increased state vulnerability, missteps, and elite defections, these social movements grow into something bigger, a spontaneous revolution can ensue. These revolutions are initially without ideology and their leaders and outcome are not predetermined. The French revolution of 1978, the Russian Revolution of February 1917, and the Iranian revolution of 1978 can be classified as spontaneous revolutions.

Keywords

spontaneous revolutionFrench revolutionsocial movementmass mobilizationIranian revolutionRussian revolutionstate weakness
Type
Chapter
Information
A Concise History of Revolution , pp. 42 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×