The Fifth Generation of Revolution Studies? A systematic review

2024.

Korotayev A., Ustyuzhanin V., Grinin L. E., Egor Fain

There are grounds for stating that in the 21st century a new ("fifth") generation of revolution studies has emerged. It can be noted that the characteristics of this generation are: a tendency towards a macro approach (both in the historical and geographical sense) together with a systemic approach; the research of separate important types of revolutionary processes (such as Mark Beissinger's "urban civic revolutions") and important revolutionary innovations, such as the role of new information technologies in recent revolutions; innovations regarding the factors and causes of revolutions and innovations in the analysis of the factors influencing the choice of revolutionary strategy and the revolution outcomes; a special interest in the topic of revolutionary waves / "the diffusion of revolution"; a strong understanding that armed and unarmed revolutionary events have significantly different factors, structure and consequences; a focus on the study of unarmed revolutionary episodes / "non-violent maximalist campaigns"; use of global databases of revolutionary events; extensive use of modern methods of quantitative analysis.

Keywords: revolutions, революции

Publication based on the results of: Global challenges to the development of the "Afrasian" macro-zone of instability in the context of Russia's national interests (2024)