Revolutionary Change

by Chalmers Johnson

This is a classic study by a leading theorist of revolution, Revolutionary Change has gone through eleven printings since its appearance in 1966 and been translated into German, French, and Korean. This carefully revised edition not only brings the original analysis up to date but adds two entirely new one on terrorism, the most celebrated form of political violence throughout the 1970s, and one on theories of revolution from Brinton to the present day.

Genres: History, International Relations

217 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He fought in the Korean war, from 1967-1973 was a consultant for the CIA, and ran the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley for years. He was also president and co-founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute, an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia.

Reviews

[سماء · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Toute forme de révolution traduit l'échec de la politique.... Le recours à la violence doit se justifier comme une réponse aux besoins réels des hommes organisés politiquement s'ils sont prêts à l'admettre comme une activité raisonnable et tolérable. S'ils n'acceptent pas pour telle la violence révolutionnaire, même s'ils peuvent être effrayés par la force mise en œuvre contre eux, le régime qui en sera le fruit ressemblera plus à un camps de concentration qu'à un système social.... Le premier impératif qui s'impose aux révolutionnaires sera toujours de justifier leur comportement vis-à-vis de la population."
ces phrases à la fin de l'avant dernier chapitre résume tout le livre : une étude d'un système social; structure, valeurs, fonction, le déséquilibre d'un système social, les conditions d'une révolution, les stratégies d'une révolution, appuyé chaque fois par des exemples de l'histoire moderne surtout.
Il était fascinant pour moi, une lectrice du 2023, de faire une comparaison/ un parallélisme avec l'état social actuel, localement et internationalement..

[Dasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Revolutionary Change, Chalmers Johnson looks to understand revolutions from an analytical perspective. Johnson critiques previous theorists on the definition of society, including Hobbes, Marx, and Weber, as well as revolutionary theories such as the structural, actor-orientated, conjunction, and process approaches. His goal is to provide an empirical way to define revolutions as they occur in complex, multi-varied social systems by bringing together the previous four theories, thereby offering a concise way to analyze what qualifies or not as a revolution.
In Chapters 2 and 3, Johnson details social systems regarding values and also structure and function. He claims that social systems need to maintain equilibrium. When a system moves into disequilibrium, because values no longer synchronize, change works to restore equilibrium. Johnson makes the distinction between routine changes and changes enacted to recreate a new system in equilibrium. Although the changes that produce disequilibrium do not cause a revolution, the changes create a demand for the system to be adjusted. A revolution may occur in an effort to recreate a system in equilibrium. Johnson defines a revolution as “the purposive use of a strategy of violence to affect a change in social structure." In Chapter 4, Johnson explains a fourfold typology to understand the causes of a social system in disequilibrium. This typology includes environment changing forces and value changing forces that may originate from either exogenous or endogenous sources.
Chapters 5 and 6 use these theoretical understandings to unpack revolutions and varieties of revolutions. However, Johnson explains that due to a lack of agreement on social systems and the causes of disequilibrium, it is not beneficial to define varieties of revolutions. Therefore, the discussion on revolution varieties in Chapter 6 feels unnecessary. Unable to conclude a categorization system for revolutions, Johnson uses the chapter to discuss unsatisfactory typologies, including Anthony Wallace and Talcott Parsons. This discussion may have been better tied into the previous section to avoid the awkward breakup between the chapters on revolutions and revolution strategies.
However, the last chapters that Johnson provides are excellent. Chapter 8 provides an analysis of terrorism in relation to revolutions. Johnson contrasts terrorism to revolutionary violence in that although terrorist tactics may be used in revolutionary struggles, it "almost invariably damages the internal unity of a revolutionary movement." Regimes that utilized terrorist tactics to come to power ultimately do not maintain a social system in equilibrium based upon mutual trust and values. Instead, they are forced to continue to use terror tactics. The final chapter on revolution theories is where Johnson unites the four major groupings of revolutionary theories with his current revolutions analysis. The theoretical critiques demonstrate Johnson's most significant strength throughout the book. He details and critiques various theories and models put forth by other scholars to understand the various views of revolutions and the definitions for the numerous variables that make up the foundation for a revolution, especially the social system.
In all, Johnson provides a thorough analysis of revolutionary theories, drawing on a myriad of theorists and publications. Through each deconstruction, he offers his interpretation of revolutions based on his belief in contingent social systems. Although Johnson may have spent too much time deconstructing ideas around revolution typologies without offering a solution to counter his critiques, the book manages to provide a deeper understanding of what constitutes a revolution.

[J.J. Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very dense book on revolutions the hows and whys - but lots of good information.