Crisis and Revolutions: Fields of Interaction, Actors’ Strategies, and Trajectories of Conflict Dynamics

Crisis and Revolutions:
Fields of Interaction, Actors’ Strategies, and Trajectories of Conflict Dynamics


Rozov N.S.,

Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Professor, Principal Researcher, Institute of Philosophy and Law, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences; Professor at the Department of International Relations and Regional Studies, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia , nrozov@gmail.com


elibrary_id: 72298 | ORCID: 0000-0003-2362-541X | RESEARCHER_ID: K-5447-2017


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2017.06.07
Rubric: Laboratory

For citation:

Rozov N.S. Crisis and Revolutions: Fields of Interaction, Actors’ Strategies, and Trajectories of Conflict Dynamics. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.06.07



Abstract

Definitions of socio-political crisis and the social revolution are given on the basis of a critical analysis of the most popular concepts by Th. Skocpol and J. Goldstone. The main stages of crisis aggravation are singled out: pacification or suppression of revolution, significant concessions to protest, overthrow of power, state breakdown and destruction of key social institutions. The typology of fields of political interaction is presented: from peaceful institutional one (legal, administrative) to the most brutal fields (open street violence, armed violence, and civil war). The transition to an open conflict is treated as a parties’ choice of suppressive strategies, because previous fields of interaction and peaceful strategies have received negative reinforcement. The emerging circumstances and the course of interaction determine the main channels of conflict dynamics: the escalation of violence usually leading to victory of one party over others, resumption of peaceful strategies and unstable situation, smoldering and recurring conflict that can last for years. Typical consequences of power overthrow vary from democratization and successful development, to civil war and state breakdown, to establishment of a new authoritarianism. Differentiating conditions for these options are considered. 

Keywords
socio-political crisis; social revolution; violence; social conflict; suppressive strategies; political negotiations; revolutionary dynamics; overthrow of power; post-revolutionary regimes; civil war; state breakdown; democratization.


References

Boulding K. Conflict and Defense. New York: Harper and Row. 1962. 349 p.

Buldakov V.P. Krasnaya smuta. Priroda i posledstviya revolyucionnogo nasiliya [The Red Troubles. The Nature and Consequences of Revolutionary Violence]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 2010. 376 p. (In Russ.)

Collins R. Macrohistory: Essays in Sociology of the Long Run. (Russ. ed.: Collins R. Makroistoriya: ocherki sociologii bolshoy dlitelnosti. Moscow: URSS. 2015. 504 p.)

Collins R. Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2008. 563 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400831753

Coser L.A. The Functions of Social Conflict. (Russ. ed.: Coser L. Funkcii socialnogo konflikta. Moscow: House of Intellectual Book: Idia-Press. 2000. 208 p.)

Eparhina O.V. Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Social Revolutions: the Possibilities of Historical Sociology. – Vestnik RGGU. Seriya: Filosofiya. Sociologiya. Iskusstvovedenie. 2012. No. 2. Vol. 82. P. 36-51. (In Russ.)

Goldstone J. Towards a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory. (Russ. ed.: Goldstone J. K teorii revolyucii chetvertogo pokoleniya. – Logos. 2006. No. 5. P. 58-103).

Goldstone J. Revolution. A Very Short Introduction. (Russ. ed.: Goldstone J. Revolyucii. Ochen kratkoe vvedenie. Moscow: Institute Gaydara Publ. 2015. 192 p.)

Kolonitsky B.I. Simvoli vlasti i borba za vlast: k izucheniyu politicheskoy kulturi rossiyskoy revolyucii 1917 goda [Symbols of Power and the Struggle for Power: the Study of Political Culture of the Russian Revolution 1917]. Saint Petersburg: Dmitriy Bulanin. 2012. 455 p. (In Russ.)

McAdam D., Tarrow S., Tilly Ch. Dynamics of Contention. Cambridge University Press. 2003. 380 p.

Moore B. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Boston: Beacon Press. 1966. 592 p.

Nikiforov A.A. Revolution and its Causes: Answers and New Questions. – Political Expertise Journal. 2008. Vol. 4. No. 2. P. 80-100. (In Russ.)

Rozov N.S. Koleya i pereval: makrosociologicheskie osnovaniya strategiy Rossii v 21-m veke [Track and Pass: The Macrosociological Foundations for Russia’s Strategies in the 21st Century]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. 2011. 735 p. (In Russ.)

Rozov N.S. The Theory of Political Regimes’ Transformation and the Nature of Neo-Patrimonialism. – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No. 6. P.157-172. (In Russ.)

Sharp J. From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. (Russ. ed.: Sharp J. Ot diktaturi k demokratii: Strategiya i taktika osvobozhdeniya. Мoscow: New Publishing House. 2012. 84 p.)

Shul’ts E.E. Teoriya revolyucii. Revolyucii i sovremennie civilizacii [The Theory of Revolution. Revolutions and Modern Civilizations]. Moscow: URSS. 2017. 400 p. (In Russ.)

Skinner B.F. Operant Conditioning. (Russ. ed.: Skinner B.F. Operantnoye povedenie. – Istoriya zarubezhnoy psihologii. Teksty. Moscow: Moscow State University. 1986. P. 60-95.)

Skocpol Th. 1979. States and Social Revolutions. A Comaparive Analysis of France, Russia, and China. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. 407 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815805

Skocpol Th. States and Social Revolutions. A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. (Russ. ed.: Skocpol Th. Gosudarstva i socialnie revolyucii. Sravnitelniy analiz Francii, Rossii i Kitaya. Institut Gaydara Publ. 2017. 552 p.)

Tilly Ch. The Politics of Collective Violence. Cambridge University Press. 2003. 260 p. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819131

Tilly Ch. From Mobilization to Revolution. Westley. 1978. xiii + 349 p.

Tsirel S.V. Revolutionary Situations, Revolutions and Revolutionary Waves: Conditions, Regularities, Examples. – Oikumena. 2012. No. 8. P. 174-209. (In Russ.) 

Content No. 6, 2017

See also:


Rozov N.S.,
The Vector of Russian 1917 Revolution: Modernization or Counter-Modernization?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No2

Oganisyan Yu.S.,
Hundred Years of Wars and Revolutions. The Epoch Continues?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No1

Rozov N.S.,
The legitimacy of postrevolutionary power: principles and criteria. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No5

Rozov N.S., Pustovoit Yu.A., Filippov S.I., Tsygankov V.V.,
Revolutionary Waves of the Second Half of the 20th Century: an Interplay between Geopolitics, Violence, and Legitimacy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No2

Toshchenko Zh.T.,
Particularities of modern ochlocracy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No2

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
4 2003


Gelman V.Ya.
Institutional Construction and Informal Institutions in Modern Russian Politics

 The article text (электронная версия)
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991