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Resumo

In Forging Nations, Theda Skocpol contributes a major theoretical work toward explaining the causes and processes of revolution. She does so by focusing on social revolutions--rapid, basic transformations of a society's state and class structures--and by arguing that such revolutions are not made but that they come. Revolutions, she argues, are the result of the breakdown of the state apparatus and the consequent mobilization of the masses. She analyzes the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions as the cases best suited for developing a general theory of social revolutions. In comparing these cases, she identifies common patterns of revolutionary process and outcome, and she argues that these patterns are due to similar structural and historical characteristics of the societies in question. Skocpol's analysis is based on a structural perspective, which she contrasts with other approaches to the study of revolutions. She argues that structural factors, such as the nature of the state and class structures, are the primary determinants of revolutionary outcomes. She also emphasizes the role of international pressures in triggering state breakdowns and facilitating revolutionary mobilization. Forging Nations is a major contribution to the study of revolutions and to social theory more generally. It offers a powerful and original explanation of the causes and processes of social revolutions, and it provides a framework for understanding the dynamics of social change.

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