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State structures, international forces, and class relations: Theda Skocpol shows how all three combine to explain the origins and accomplishments of social-revolutionary transformations. From France in the 1790s to Vietnam in the 1970s, social revolutions have been rare but undeniably of enormous importance in modern world history. States and Social Revolutions provides a new frame of reference for analyzing the causes, the conflicts, and the outcomes of such revolutions. And it develops in depth a rigorous, comparative historical analysis of three major cases: the French Revolution of 1787 through the early 1800s, the Russian Revolution of 1917 through the 1930s, and the Chinese Revolution of 1911 through the 1960s. Believing that existing theories of revolution, both Marxist and non-Marxist, are inadequate to explain the actual historical patterns of revolutions, the author urges us to adopt fresh perspectives. She argues for structural rather than voluntarist analysis, and for an emphasis on the effects of transnational and world-historical contexts upon domestic political conflicts. Above all, she maintains that states conceived as administrative and coercive organizations potentially autonomous from class controls and interests must be made central to explanations of revolutions.
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States and Social Revolutions A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FRANCE, RUSSIA, AND CHINA THEDA SKOCPOL Harvard University Tlrt ri,,,, pl,h, UlltvtrJlly 1)/ CDmbrldg� ttl p,lni Qnd ull tJlI md/Jntt IJ/books WDS ;Itllfltd by Htnry YI/I ill lSJ4. Tht Unir�ujl)' has ptJfll�d tiM p"blil"�tI �n/'lIfI61UIy sillct 1581/. CAMRRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK MELBOURNE NEW ROCHELLE SYDNEY Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022,USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1979 First published 1979 Reprinted 1979,1980 (twice), 1981,1983,1984 (twice), 1985 (twic:e), 1986, 1987 (twice), 1988 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Skocpol, Theda. States and social revolutions. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Revolutions - Case studies. 2. Revolutions - France - His tory. 3. Revolutions - Russia - History. 4. Revolutions - China History. I. Title. HM283.S56 301.6'333 78-14314 ISBN 0 521 22439 X hiud covers ISBN 0 521 29499 I paperback for Bill Contents List of Tables and Maps ix Preface xi Introduction 1. Explaining Social Revolutions: Alternatives to Existing Theories A Structural Perspective International and World-historical Contexts The Potential Autonomy of the State A Comparative Historical Method Why France, Russia, and China? 3 14 19 24 33 40 Part I Causes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia, and China 2. Old-Regime States in Crisis 47 Old-Regime Franc_e: The Contradictions of Bourbon Absolutism 51 Manchu China: From the Celestial Empire to the Fall of the Imperial System Imperial Russia: An Underdeveloped Great Power Japan and Prussia as Contrasts 3. Agrarian Structures and Peasant Insurrections Peasants Against Seigneurs in the French Revolution The Revolution of the Obshchinas: Peasant Radicalism in Russia Two Counterpoints: The Absence of Peasant Revolts in the English and German Revolutions Peasant Incapacity and Gentry Vulnerability in China Vll 67 81 99 1 12 1 18 128 140 147 Contents Part II Outcomes of Social Revolutions in France, Russia, and China 4. What Changed and How: A Focus on State Building Political Leaderships The Role