THE REVOLUTIONARY REIGN OF TERROR: The Role Of Violence In Political Change

THE REVOLUTIONARY REIGN OF TERROR: The Role of Violence in Political Change

The Revolutionary Reign of Terror is an up-to-date study of the use of violence and the role played by ideology in the building of the new revolutionary state.Rosemary O'Kane demonstrates how the study of revolutionary reigns of terror provides a means to an understanding both of the nature of revolutionary governments and the outcomes of revolutions. By a close comparison of revolutions and the ideologies which prompt them - including the examples of France, Russia, China, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Cambodia, England and America - the special significance of civil war is highlighted and an important distinction made between revolutionary governments brought to power through guerrilla warfare and those faced by civil war after taking power. In conclusion, gaining control of the revolutionary forces of coercion is seen to be pivotal to the establishment of the revolutionary state.The book has special relevance for courses on revolution and political violence in departments of politics, sociology and international relations.Review'. . . The Revolutionary Reign of Terror has a great deal to sat to anyone interested in the future of the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe.' -- Peter Calvert, The Journal of Communist Studies'An important addition to the literature that nicely complements earlier studies by B. Moore, Charles Tilly, J. C. Davies, T. Skocpol, T.R. Gurr.' -- CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book 1993'In her excellent case studies. . . . O'Kane has accumulated quite a few cogent, perhaps clinching proofs to advance the cause of such theoretical revision.' -- Z. Bauman, SociologyAbout the AuthorRosemary H.T. O