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Definition: revolution from Philip's Encyclopedia

In a political sense, fundamental change in values, political institutions, social structure, and leadership brought about by a large-scale, successful revolt. The totality of change distinguishes it from coups, rebellions, and wars of independence, which seek to achieve only particular changes. The term is also used to indicate great economic and technical changes, such as the Industrial Revolution or the Agricultural Revolution. See also American Revolution; French Revolution; Russian Revolution


REVOLUTION

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
This word is commonly used to refer to a sudden overthrow of the status quo and its replacement by an entirely different state of affairs. That the word is also used for the turning of a wheel conveys this sense of social arrangements being turned upside-down. Many believe in the necessity of revolution for a fundamental reformation of society. The argument is that existing political and social institutions must be swept away if better ones are to emerge. Democratic SOCIALISTS and the reformist left prefer the idea of change achieved gradually by an incremental transformation of society, mirrored by changes in individual consciousness and behaviour. Finally a revolution may be conceived not as a deliberate strategy so much as the emergent effect of other social, political and economic changes, as in the industrial revolution. Revolution has often been pursued as a part of a strategy for bringing about a new society, led by revolutionaries organized into parties dedicated to the…
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Full text Article REVOLUTION

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
The use of the word revolution in the modern sense can be traced to the late eighteenth century in Europe, and especially to debate on the French Revolution. The word's meaning in English went through significant changes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: from denoting a cyclical, …
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Full text Article revolution

From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
Political scientists are deeply divided concerning both the meaning of the term ‘revolution’ and the true explanation of the phenomena denoted by it. To some extent the chosen explanation will determine the chosen meaning, so that theoretical discussions over whether the American Revolution, say, …
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Full text Article Revolution

From The Social Science Jargon-Buster
Core definition Drastic and far-reaching change to social or political institutions that occurs over a relatively short period of time. Longer explanation Sometimes change is slow and unhurried, in other words it's evolutionary, but other times it seems to happen overnight and it's revolutionary. …
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Full text Article revolution

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
In everyday usage, a revolution is any sudden, usually violent, change in the government of a society. However, social scientists regard such events as ‘palace revolutions’ or coups d'état , reserving the term ‘revolution’ for a total change in the social structure, of which political changes in…
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Full text Article revolution

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
(political and social) ‘the seizure of STATE power through violent means by the leaders of a mass movement where that power is subsequently used to initiate major processes of social reform’ GIDDENS ,1989). This distinguishes revolutions from COUPS D’ÉTAT, which involve the use of force to seize…
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Full text Article revolution

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
in a political sense, fundamental and violent change in the values, political institutions, social structure, leadership, and policies of a society. The totality of change implicit in this definition distinguishes it from coups, rebellions, and wars of independence, which involve only partial…
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Full text Article Revolution

From The Oxford Companion to International Relations
Since ancient times, governments have been changed by force. Plato and Aristotle commented on changes in the governments of Greek city-states from aristocracies and tyrannies to democracies (and back again) in the third through sixth centuries bce . The Roman republic was founded in a revolution…
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Full text Article Revolutions

From Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict Full text Article Contents by Subject Area
The Concept of Revolution A Brief History of Revolutions Theories of Revolution The Future of Revolutions Further Reading Glossary Coup d'etat The rapid overthrow of a government or political regime by political elites and/or state officials, often led by military officers, sometimes through violent…
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Full text Article REVOLUTION

From The Edinburgh Dictionary of Modernism
Following the French revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848 and 1871, the modernist period was haunted by the spectre of a proletarian revolution. COMMUNISM exerts a key influence on modernism: many AVANT-GARDE manifestos take their cue from the Communist MANIFESTO of 1848. The Russian October Revolution…
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Full text Article Revolutions

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
Dramatic alterations in government or social structures; paradigm shifts in knowledge or science. Western philosophy is punctuated by allusions to revolution. In The Politics , Aristotle used the term “revolution” (or, more precisely, the Greek word metabole , the root of the English word…
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