Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements [Paperback]

James DeFronzo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813343542 | ISBN-13: 978-0813343549 | Publication Date: January 2, 2007 | Edition: 3rd

The rise of Islamic Fundamentalist revolutionary movements, the conflict in Iraq, the surge of leftist political movements in Latin America led by Venezuela’s example, and updates of the chapters on Russia, China, Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, and South Africa are some of the main features of this updated edition of Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements. With crucial insights and indispensable information concerning modern-day political upheavals, the third edition of this widely used book provides a representative cross section of many of the most significant revolutions of the modern era. Students can trace the historical development of eight revolutions using a five-factor analytical framework. Attention is devoted to clearly explaining all relevant concepts and events, the roles of key leaders, and the interrelation of each revolutionary movement with international economic and political developments and conflicts, including World Wars I and II, the Cold War, and the War on Terror; ten orienting maps are provided, and summary and analysis sections, suggested readings, chronologies, and updated lists of documentary resources with purchase or rental sources complete each presentation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

 "James DeFronzo provides an outstanding survey of twentieth-century revolutionary movements. This book broadly conceptualizes factors that led to these ruptures, and analyzes their significance and legacies. Its compelling interpretations make it an outstanding choice both for classes on modern revolutions as well as for general readers." --Marc Becker, Truman State University

"I know of no more lucid analysis of revolution’s role in remaking the modern world than James DeFronzo’s Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements.  This clearly-written, well-researched, and completely updated fourth edition illuminates the diverse forces which have inspired and propelled revolution.  By putting compelling portraits of specific revolutions into a global context, Professor DeFronzo helps college students and general readers alike anticipate revolutions to come and contemplate ways to deal with them.  A comprehensive bibliography of print and other sources greatly enhances the value of this indispensable book."  --P. Richard Bohr, College of St. Benedict’s and St. John’s University

"James DeFronzo has surpassed his previous high standards once again in this indispensable guide to revolutionary matters, past, present, and perhaps to come.  This is a book that is aging well as it grows up in the 21st century, and its new chapter on the dramatic events unfolding in Venezuela and Bolivia will be much appreciated." --John Foran, University of California at Santa Barbara

"In Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, James DeFronzo has provided an excellent overview of the complex subject of revolution in clear, concise language.  In this fourth edition, he has added important material, including sections on Color Revolutions, Daniel Ortega and the FSLN Regain the Presidency, Developments [in Iran] After the Election of Obama, and more.  There is also a whole new chapter on Revolution through Democracy.  DeFronzo's Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements is an excellent resource not only for students, but for policymakers, journalists, and scholars as well." --Mark N. Katz, Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason University

"This smart, accessible, and compelling text is packed with information and provides one-stop shopping for those interested in the major revolutions and revolutionary movements of the last hundred years.  DeFronzo captures the high points and the complexity that mark the revolutionary processes of the past hundred years--an excellent entry point in this fascinating field." --Eric Selbin, Professor of Political Science and University Scholar, Southwestern University

 

 

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

James DeFronzo is associate professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Connecticut. He is the editor of Revolutionary Movements in World History: 1750 to the Present (2006), a three-volume encyclopedia, as well as the author of numerous articles on criminology, social policy related to crime, revolutionary movements (in the encyclopedia), teaching a revolutions course, demography, gender issues, and social stratification. Since the spring of 1985, more than seven thousand students have completed his Revo­lutionary Movements course, from which this book was developed.

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press; 3rd edition (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813343542
• ISBN-13: 978-0813343549
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #814,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Primer Lacking in Some Substantive Respects, July 7, 2010

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements (Paperback)

There is no question but that this book would be an excellent undergraduate primer, but it is lacking in a number of substantive respects. The shortfalls first:

1. Needs to add understanding and summary of "secret war" and covert action dimensions underlying each revolution and its counter-revolution. Although there are some references, the reality about the CIA and others that comes out in books such as Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA or None So Blind: A Personal Account of the Intelligence Failure in Vietnam is simply not there. In this vein, the author focuses too much on world "permissiveness" for revolution as a factor, and not enough on the grave sorrows inflicted on humanity by US sponsorship of dictatorships (see Ambassador Mark Palmer's utterly sensational Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025. While the author does address CIA's role in subverting both Guatemala and Iran (and in Guatemala, of Che Guevara's being there to witness the illegal over-throw), generally this book lacks a system of systems approach to the raw disconnect between government and people across political-legal, socio-economic, ideo-cultural, techno-demographic, and natural-geographic factors.

2. Needs to add understanding and summary of the role of multinational corporations in both sponsoring and suppressing revolutions. From Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational Corporations to War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier to The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back, the role of elite corruption sponsored by the USA or USSR or China or Iran is simply not adequately integrated.

3. Needs to add understanding and summary of the role of criminal networks as substantive players in any and all revolutionary movements, not just whatever poster child the US Government wants to emphasize that day. Criminals, terrorists, revolutionaries, and white collar criminals all share the same smuggling and money-laundering spectrum of networks. See Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy.

4. Would benefit from adding a Preface or Appendix on Failed States, and an analytic model on revolution. The five conditions the author focuses on are interesting, but not at all comprehensive [see the three links at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog--not being Amazon books, they are not allowed here however relevant.] This is where the point can be made that the failure of states to achieve legitimacy with the masses is the core foundation for--but neither a precondition nor a precipitant of--revolution. See Max Manwaring et all, The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century

5. There is no mention of the 5,000 plus secession movements around the world, all of them gathering steam. There are not enough guns to keep everyone down, the Internet and cell phones have broken the death grip elites had on information, the "new world order" (and disorder) is going to be bottom up panarchy, and most elites have no idea what the word panarchy means.

Now for the high points:

1. Great bibliographies, although skewed toward the 1980's and 1990's, missing many still relevant work from earlier decades, e.g. Ekstein. He cites Crane (1952) and Davies (1962) but too many primary sources have been slighted in favor of more current tertiary sources.

2. Government and media are failing to educate their publics about fundamentals of good and bad governance and hence the nature of revolutionary movements.

3. VITAL POINT: Most--including Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, and Viet-Nam, reacting to foreign interventions and occupations. The author's coverage of all of these is generally on target but rather superficial. HOWEVER, the author does a superb job of showing the common sense nature of leaders such as Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Minh, and how the US literally blew them off because it favored corrupt profits over indigenous democracies.

4. The author touches on the difference between reform and revolution, and it is this treatment that pushes me over the edge--I am going to have to publish an updated version of my 1976 thesis (free online at Phi Beta Iota) since no one seems to have figured out what I knew and organized in 1976.

FIVE CRITICAL FACTORS

1. Mass frustration

2. Dissident elite actualized in political movements

3. Unifying motivations

4. Severe political crisis

5. Permissive or tolerant world context.

It is here that I get irritated. This is a very superficial model, and one that does not reflect the difference between a precondition (Somoza family abuse of the Nicaraguan population for decades) and a precipitant (a major natural disaster followed by the Somoza family trying to steal most of the aid being delivered).

I am fascinating by the author's artfully diplomatic discussion of how the US in Latin America executing a double-whammy: first, people saw that Cuba could make a revolution stick, with the Bay of Pigs being a major error; and second, when the Alliance for Progress began encouraging democracy, it scared the elites of several countries into reactionary take-overs: he mentions in this regard Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay.

There is a useful discussion, particularly in relation to Iran, of how it modernized economically but not politically. The contrast with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey is worth studying further.

The author treats films as a separate bibliographic contribution to the end of each chapter, with a full page or two of listings to complement the preceding bibliography of articles, books, and chapters. This was a new and appreciated twist for me.

I find the author's treatment of Joffe's scholarship, to wit that Islam is struggling with the West because of "profound" asymmetries" rather than any "clash of civilizations" to be exactly right. The Muslim Brotherhood opposed violence, and most policymakers would rather not have us understand the Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush or The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage).

In discussing the emergence of Islamic radicalism the author does not do justice to Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times or Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 or the blatant global funding of extremist Wahabbism by the debauched Saudi royals, or how Pakistan played the US for a fool for decades, beginning with Brzezinski, who gave them the nuclear bomb (the SUNNI nuclear bomb, the real reason Iran wants a SHI'ITE nuclear bomb).

Separately from the discussion of Islam the author points out that Nelson Mandela has to give up economic reform (e.g. leave the white minority owning the mines and the guns) in order to achieve political reform, the story of South Africa and its revolution is unfinished.

I put the book down thoughtful--this was a good read for any level of reader, and certainly the best starting point I have seen for undergraduates. Latin America is about to enter a new era of leftist Presidents who are non-violent and staunchly against corruption. If a new hybrid form of regional uplifting can succeed in South America and the Caribbean, it can be migrated to Africa. As I squint out at our summer garden, I see butterflies, and I feel hope. Revolution is a good thing. We need more revolutionaries, to the point that every individual being exploited by any government, any corporation, any non-governmental organization (e.g. the thieving Red Cross) becomes a revolutionary.

See also (only at Phi Beta Iota, where null Amazon links to Amazon books are all live):

1976 thesis on revolution (Lehigh University)
1996 paper on revolution (Marine Corps University)
1976 graphic on the preconditions of revolution

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and brief, July 10, 2008

By 

dufan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements (Paperback)

I came across this book while browsing on amazon one day. Rented it from a local library. I've always been interested in history especially the USSR and the Bolshevik Revolution. I'm already well versed in the movements that occurred in Russia and the reasons behind it, but when it came to the other revolutionary movements discussed in this book; particularly Iran, Nicaragua, and South Africa I only had a brief idea of what happened and the key players.

The book is an easy read if you have an interest in the movements discussed. The author briefly discusses the geography of each country at the beginning of each chapter followed by statistics and a very brief history of the countries only getting in depth when discussing the build up and revolution happening in each country. The sources are cited in the readings and after each chapter allowing the read to explore the resources if wanting to learn more. With each important human figure information is given regarding the group they belong to and explored in concise informative paragraphs. No need to get bogged down in every little detail with this book.

Overall an excellent beginner's guide to some of the most important revolutionary movements in the past century, some movements were left out but from what I've read this book is mainly for his class he teaches which is understandable to leave some out. I have a firm grasp on the important history and background behind the countries discussed thanks to this book.

1 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intensely interesting and informative!!, November 7, 1997

By 

Brett Stark (Vernon, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutions And Revolutionary Movements: Second Edition (Paperback)

A definite must for anyone interested in the field of revolutionary movements/political science. The book provides succinct yet fact-packed discussions on the origins and aftermaths of some of the most predominant revolutions of the 20th Century including Russia, China, Iran, and Cuba as well as several others. As a former student of Dr. Defronzo at UCONN I have found the book invaluable in my studies of History and Political Science.