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RES 350 Revolutions
By
the 1980s, after the increasingly obvious failure of Marxist revolutions
both economically and politically in developing countries, scholars
and politicians predicted the age of revolution was over. It was,
as Francis Fukuyama put it, the end of history. From now on, all
states would move toward the model of market capitalism. The last
decade of the 20th century and the first six of the 21st century
have shown that history, and with it, revolution, is far from over.
First came the explosion in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the USSR,
the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, bloodless overthrows of old
elites in Indonesia and the Phillipines, and what Hugo Chavez calls
the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuala. The first years of the 21st
century witnessed what have been dubbed the "colored revolutions."
The goal of revolutions may no longer be socialism, it may not
even be directed at greater liberty (the Taliban). But revolutions
continue to affect millions of people's lives and reflect states'
responses to global change and social dislocation.
They are still with us and they will always need study and analysis. |
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