Revolution

Structure and Meaning in World History

Saïd Amir Arjomand

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780226026848
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

A revolution is a discontinuity: one political order replaces another, typically through whatever violent means are available. Modern theories of revolutions tend neatly to bracket the French Revolution of 1789 with the fall of the Soviet Union two hundred years later, but contemporary global uprisings—with their truly multivalent causes and consequences—can overwhelm our ability to make sense of them.In this authoritative new book, Saïd Amir Arjomand reaches back to antiquity to propose a unified theory of revolution. Revolution illuminates the stories of premodern rebellions from the ancient world, as well as medieval European revolts and more recent events, up to the Arab Spring of 2011. Arjomand categorizes revolutions in two groups: ones that expand the existing body politic and power structure, and ones that aim to erode—but paradoxically augment—their authority. The revolutions of the past, he tells us, can shed light on the causes of those of the present and future: as long as centralized states remain powerful, there will be room for greater, and perhaps forceful, integration of the politically disenfranchised.
 

Index

Abaoji, 274

Abaqa, 285, 288, 295, 297

Abarsām, 160

ʿAbbasid Empire, 215–16, 218, 228, 236, 238, 240, 265, 269, 283, 313

ʿAbbasid Muhammad b. ʿAli, 219–20, 229

ʿAbbasid Revolution, 21–22, 33, 40, 219, 224, 226, 229, 231–32, 238–39, 312–13; as integrative, 216; as Islam’s social revolution, 345n1. See also Hashemite Revolution

Abbott, Andrew, 25–26

ʿAbd al-ʿAziz al-Azdi, 231–32

ʿAbd al-ʿAziz b. al-Darawardi, 233

ʿAbd al-Hamid al-Kātib, 240

ʿAbd al-Jabbār al-Azdi, 19; rebellion of, 231–32

ʿAbdallāh b. al-Hasan, 231, 233

ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAli al-Saffāh, 226, 229, 237

ʿAbdallāh b. al-Muqaffaʿ, 239

ʿAbdallāh b. Muʿāwiya, 219

Abgar VIII, 127, 143

Abïsh Khatun, 309

Abraha, 194

Abraham, 194; Abrahamic monotheism, 205

Abu ʿAmr b. al-ʿAlāʾ, 241

Abu ʿAwn ʿAbān b. ʿAbd al-Malik b. Yazid, 232

Abu Bakr, 204, 211, 332; Prophet, successorship of, 212

Abu Dāwud Khālid b. Ibrāhim al-Dhuhli, 218, 225, 231

Abu Hanifa, 217–18

Abu Hāshim ʿAbdallāh b. Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya, 219, 231

Abu Jaʿfar al-Mansur, 215, 226–28, 230–34, 236–40; Rāwandiyya, link with, 229

Abu Khālid (ʿAbbasid agent), 222, 231

Abu’l-ʿAbbās, ʿAbbasid caliph, 226, 229, 233, 235

Abu Mansur Muhammad b. Ahmad, 238

Abu Maʿshar al-Balkhi, 21

Abu Muslim al-Khurāsāni, ʿAbd al-Rahmān, 228, 342n3; assassination attempt, 230; betrayal of, 231; as charismatic, 227; followers of, as fifth column, 229; murder of, 226–27, 230, 232–33; nontrib...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Abbreviations
• introduction / Revolution in Comparative and Historical Sociology
• one / The Akkadian Constitutive Revolution and the Establishment of Universal Monarchy in Mesopotamia
• two / The Athenian Constitutive Revolution and Subsequent Revolutions of Ancient Greece
• three / Revolution in the Roman Republic
• four / Revolution in the Roman Principate and Its Transformation into Imperial Constitutional Autocracy
• five / The Last Roman Integrative Revolution
• six / Rise of the Sasanian Empire: A Feudal Integrative Revolution in Late Antiquity
• seven / Rise of Islam: The Constitutive Revolution of Late Antiquity
• eight / Islam’s Integrative Social Revolution
• nine / The Papal Revolution and Its Export: The Crusades
• ten / The Mongolian Integrative Revolution in Eurasia
• conclusion / World-Historical and Theoretical Significance of Premodern Revolutions
• epilogue / Revolutions of the Last Hundred Years in the Light of My Typology
• Notes
• References
• Index