Dictionnaire de la Science Politique

Authors: Hermet, Badie, Birnbaum & Braud
Summary: This entry, of about 450 words, gives a critical and problematic interpretation of the term revolution, which, according to the author, is difficult to define. The concept refers to those radical fractures that take place inside the organization of a society. Accordingly, revolutions can be social or political in a strict sense. The former -in contrast with the latter - not only overthrow the political setting, but also the entire social structure (e.g. French and Russian revolutions). However, the author argues that it is problematic to establish exactly when a fracture is radical enough to discern whether the observed phenomenon is a revolution or a mere change of regime. Indeed, the use of violence and mass mobilization do not seem to be sufficient criteria. Moreover, it is difficult to distinguish independence war from revolution and revolution from coup d'‚tat. On the one hand the author acknowledges the positive connotation attributed to the concept both by historians and revolutionaries. On the other hand it must be noted that it is too broad an explicative category, above all if every radical change in a specific sector is reconduced to it: the author mentions as examples agrarian, industrial and technological revolutions.