Revolutions Against the State (original) (raw)

The New Handbook of Political Sociology

This chapter is an attempt to provide a more accurate and holistic account of revolution studies than the shackles of generational imagery has allowed. Instead of theoretical generations, I sketch eight theoretical schemas that guide ways of thinking about rebellions and revolutions. Three schemas are classical—Marxism, natural history, and strain theory—and two remain in force today—state-centered and mass mobilization approaches. And three are emergent and not yet institutionalized—cultural, international, and contingency schemas.

Waves of protest and revolution: elements of a Marxist analysis

Revolutionaries and scholars alike have noted the recurrence within capitalism of “waves” of large-scale social movement mobilisation and revolutionary situations, including the C18th Atlantic Revolutions, the Latin American wars of independence, the events of 1848 in Europe, the events of 1916-23 in Europe and North America, resistance to fascism in Europe and Asia, anti-colonial uprisings in postwar Asia and Africa, the events of 1968 across the northern hemisphere and the events of 1989 in the Soviet bloc and China. At present the overlap of a global “movement of movements” with the Latin American “pink tide”, the anti-war movement of 2003, anti-austerity and Occupy movements in the global North and the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa suggest that another such wave is underway. This paper attempts to understand the broad historical experience in ways that are relevant to the present and enable effective action. It proposes an analysis of such waves as occurring within one or more regions of the capitalist world-system and involving an organic crisis of a particular regime of accumulation – entailing a growing popular capacity for action, the detachment of subaltern elements of the previously hegemonic coalition and a declining elite capacity to either offer significant concessions or to mobilise effective repression. By placing the analysis at this level it avoids the superficial requirement that such waves share a common popular actor or set of demands – what similarities exist in terms of leading popular actors and modes of organisation are to be explained by this broader situation (notably, the difficulties experienced by the existing regime of accumulation in accommodating given needs and social groups). It also makes it clear that a revolutionary outcome is by no means a given, nor is it a requirement for a “real” wave. However the historical experience has often been that even where a given regime was able to recover temporarily in the longer term a new set of hegemonic arrangements, incorporating some movement demands, has been necessary. In relation to the present crisis, with its multiple popular actors, this analysis suggests particular attention to the weaknesses of neoliberalism in securing continued hegemony – and to demands, and popular institutions, which accentuate this. It notes in particular the length of this crisis, which is historically unusual and politically encouraging, as is the narrowness of neoliberal orthodoxy and the difficulties experienced in finding new modes of organisation to incorporate popular pressures. It concludes with some suggestions as to what movements can do in this situation.

Revolutions: a twenty-first-century perspective

Third World Quarterly, 2020

We held the ‘Revolutions’ conference in 2017 to commemorate the Russian Revolution and redeem the actual record of revolutions in the Third World for the left. A quarter-century after the demise of the USSR, we found liberal capitalist triumphalism unwarranted. Two of the most important expectations to which it gave rise – that the world had become unipolar and that it would enjoy a peace dividend – remained unfulfilled. Instead, the world became multipolar and the West, led by the United States, engaged in unprecedented economic and military aggression against countries that contested its power. If this were not enough, social unrest and explosions in the First World as well as the Third underlined the relevance of revolutions. To trace their lineage, we recall capitalism’s intimate relation with revolution. It has needed revolutions to usher it into history and to usher it out. In addition to revolutions against developed capitalism, we also underline how important and necessary revolutions against nascent capitalism in various parts of the world have been. The contributions in this volume explore different parts of this lineage and vivify revolutions for our time.

From Insurrection to Counter-Revolution

2021

This article provides an introduction into the field of the post-anarchist critique of the state. In a first step, we present Saul Newman’s cultural post-anarchism before turning to tiqqun’s neo-situationist post-anarchism. Their focus on insurrection and civil war leads to an investigation of the concept of “permanent counter-revolution” as introduced by Kees van der Pijl and developed by Bernard Harcourt. In the conclusions, we try to summarize the findings and provide a corresponding perspective on current events.

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Political Revolution

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, URL = http://www.iep.utm.edu/pol-rev/, 2016