Revolutionary mass uprisings in authoritarian regimes

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-159
Author(s):  
Holger Albrecht ◽  
Kevin Koehler
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Initial Support ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Popular Contention ◽  
Over Time

This article explores the conditions under which revolutionary mass uprisings are likely to occur. We offer a probabilistic explanation of the social and political conditions that make people rise against autocrats. The article presents a medium-n dataset of 79 revolutionary mass uprisings in 165 autocracies since 1945. Since revolutions are rare events, a combination of factors must come together to trigger them. Drawing on the extant literature on revolutionary change, we find initial support for a range of discrete factors. Our findings suggest that four such factors are particularly powerful explanations of revolutionary mass uprisings—and a combination of those factors will go a long way in predicting revolutionary change: a history of protracted low-level popular contention; the presence of personalist regimes; long tenure of incumbents in office; and the showroom effect of uprisings in the temporal and spatial vicinity of states. In a broader theoretical perspective, these findings give rise to a breaking-point explanation of revolutionary situations, emphasizing that mass uprisings build up over time, whereas structuralist theories or grievance-based approaches fare less well in predicting revolutionary ruptures.

Las Yslas de Esperar en Dios: The Jesuit Mission in Moro 1546–1571

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-606
Author(s):  
John Villiers
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Society Of Jesus ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Jesuit Missionaries ◽  
Mission Field

The numerous and voluminous reports and letters which the Jesuits wrote on the Moro mission, as on all their missions in Asia, are perhaps of less interest to us now for what they reveal of the methods adopted by the Society of Jesus in this remote corner of their mission field or the details they contain about the successes and failures of individual missionaries, than for the wealth of information they provide on the islands where the Jesuits lived and the indigenous societies with which they came into contact through their work of evangelization. In other words, it is not theprimary purpose of this essay to analyse the Jesuit documents with a view to reconstructing the history of the Moro mission in narrative form but rather to glean from them some of the informationthey contain about the social and political conditions in Moro during the forty years or so in the sixteenth century when both the Jesuit missionaries and the Portuguese were active in the regio Because the Jesuits were often in close touch with local rulers and notables, whether or not they succeeded in converting them to Christianity, and because they lived among their subjects for long periods, depending upon them for the necessities of life and sharing their hardships, their letters and reports often show a deeper understanding of the social, economic and political conditions of the indigenous societies and, one suspects, give a more accurate and measured account of events and personalities than do the official chroniclers and historians of the time, most of whom never ventured further east than Malacca and who in any case were chiefly concerned to glorify the deeds of the Portuguese and justify their actions to the world.

scholarly journals Genetic structure and sex-biased gene flow in the history of southern African populations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Bajić ◽  
Chiara Barbieri ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Tom Güldemann ◽  
Christfried Naumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Y Chromosome ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Population History ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Populations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTObjectivesWe investigated the genetic history of southern African populations with a special focus on their paternal history. We reexamined previous claims that the Y-chromosome haplogroup E1b1b was brought to southern Africa by pastoralists from eastern Africa, and investigated patterns of sex-biased gene flow in southern Africa.Material and MethodsWe analyzed previously published complete mtDNA genome sequences and ~900 kb of NRY sequences from 23 populations from Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, as well as haplogroup frequencies from a large sample of southern African populations and 23 newly genotyped Y-linked STR loci for samples assigned to haplogroup E1b1b.ResultsOur results support an eastern African origin for Y-chromosome haplogroup E1b1b; however, its current distribution in southern Africa is not strongly associated with pastoralism, suggesting a more complex origin for pastoralism in this region. We confirm that the Bantu expansion had a notable genetic impact in southern Africa, and that in this region it was probably a rapid, male-dominated expansion. Furthermore, we find a significant increase in the intensity of sex-biased gene flow from north to south, which may reflect changes in the social dynamics between Khoisan and Bantu groups over time.ConclusionsOur study shows that the population history of southern Africa has been very complex, with different immigrating groups mixing to different degrees with the autochthonous populations. The Bantu expansion led to heavily sex-biased admixture as a result of interactions between Khoisan females and Bantu males, with a geographic gradient which may reflect changes in the social dynamics between Khoisan and Bantu groups over time.

scholarly journals Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-198
Author(s):  
Mirjam de Bruijn ◽  
Jonna Both
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Social Conflicts ◽  
Normal Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Made In ◽  
As If

The enduring experience of hardship, in the form of layers of various crises, can become deeply ingrained in a society, and people can come to act and react under these conditions as if they lead a normal life. This process is explored through the analytical concept of duress, which contains three elements: enduring and accumulating layers of hardship over time, the normalization of this hardship, and a form of deeply constrained agency. We argue that decisions made in duress have a significant impact on the social and political structures of society. This concept of duress is used as a lens to understand the lives of individual people and societies in Central and West Africa that have a long history of ecological, political, and social conflicts and crises.

A Brief History of Body Shape

2021 ◽  
pp. 7-46
Author(s):  
Nathan Denton
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Body Shape ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
History Of ◽  
Winning Strategies ◽  
Physical Features ◽  
Over Time

Like the vast numbers of other organisms that roam, or have roamed, the earth, the modern human represents a finely honed tool—one forged through millennia as it struggled to survive and thrive in more or less unaccommodating environments. Displaying the battle scars and winning strategies of its brutal, but ultimately triumphant battle against the elements, our bodies hold vast amounts of encrypted information that describe our biological lineage. In addition to the countless mechanisms that have evolved to support our existence, however, the human body is somewhat unique in that it exhibits striking permanent physiological differences that identify and define the sexes. The biology that arises from, and the social meanings attributed to, these physical features penetrate deep into the heart of what it means to be human, as well as a man or a woman. Before delving into the biology of fat, we must first therefore consider the history of body shape. This chapter begins by discussing several explanations for why the modern human body might have evolved the shape it has, and why the body differs between the sexes. Building from this foundation, it examines how societal attitudes toward body shape are ascribed and their shift over time.

Before and behind the Pioneers of Modern Architecture in Singapore

2017 ◽  
pp. 56-63
Author(s):  
Jiat-Hwee Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Influences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Conditions

This article situates the emergence of pioneer modern architects and architecture of Singapore in the longer history of colonial and post-colonial modernities and modernization, and in relation to socio-economic forces of capitalism and socio-political influences of the modern state in both the colonial and post-colonial eras. Rather than understand modern architecture in terms of style, this article goes behind style to explore the social, economic, technological and political conditions of producing modern architecture.

„tὴν ἀρχαίαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν πατρίδα”: Creștinii în căutarea patriei celei dintâi – încercări de definire a unei teologii a migrației

Transilvania ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Ciprian Streza
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
Jewish Diaspora ◽  
The People ◽  
Current Topic ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
The Times

Migration, as the displacement of peoples, triggered throughout the centuries by wars, natural disasters, political oppression, poverty and famine, religious persecution is a profound human experience and an intimate part of the biblical saga from the beginning, along with the social, anthropological and spiritual issues it raises. The history of Israel is rooted in migration and the Jewish Diaspora is the most extensive and well documented migrations in antiquity. The wandering of the patriarchs, the Exodus, the exile, the dispersion and the return to Jerusalem are embedded in the consciousness of the people of Israel and helped define their character as a people and the nature of their relationship to God. For the Christian Church, migration was a phenomenon that configured its history and forced it to define itself and to specify the eschatological goal of its missionary. The patristic writings of the first centuries indicate that Christians have always considered themselves pilgrims to the heavenly homeland, not having a particular homeland here on earth, although they have always managed to adapt to the social and political conditions of the times. Starting from these historical, social and spiritual premises, the present study proposes a reflection both from a biblical and patristic perspective on the migration phenomenon, trying to offer the premises of a debate in the space of orthodox theology on this current topic.

scholarly journals Institutional change and political decision-making in the creation of the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1373-1382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Márcia Franke Piovesan ◽  
Maria Eliana Labra
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
National Health ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Specific Interests

This article examines the decision-making process that led to the creation of the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in 1999. The authors begin by discussing the history of the Agency's predecessor, the Health Surveillance Secretariat, and the need for its modernization to adjust the quality of the products under its control to domestic and international demands. From the theoretical perspective of neo-institutionalism, the article goes on to analyze the social and political context surrounding the debate on the proposed alternatives to adjust Health Surveillance to new rules in line with such requirements, focusing especially on the formulation of the new policy, the decision-making arena, and the actors with specific interests in the sector. The research drew on extensive documentary and media material, plus interviews with key actors. The article concludes that a determinant factor for the creation of ANVISA was the favorable domestic political context, fostering a positive correlation of forces that (in an extremely short timeframe, 1998-1999) allowed the creation of the first regulatory agency in the social policies area in Brazil.

On Democracy in Iran in the Islamic Republic Era: A Knowledge-based Social Outline

2021 ◽  
pp. 234779892110029
Author(s):  
Morteza Mirzanejad ◽  
Sirous Amerian ◽  
Negar Partow
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Body ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Islamic Republic ◽  
Social Foundations ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Iranians’ struggle for democracy has dominated the contemporary history of the country for the last century. These attempts have often resulted in the emergence of authoritarian regimes rather than institutionalizing democracy in the body of the state. Scholars and politicians often consider the process of institutionalism of democracy in Iran to be a top-down approach toward political reform. The literature on the topic either focuses on economics and its associated politics or industrialization and legal reform as keys to success but often ignores the social foundations of institutionalism of democracy and, in the process, undermines their roles. Transition to democracy in Iran requires a social context based on Habermas’ “Tripartite of Knowledge,” and these conditions democratize the construction of a social system that prioritizes rational inquiry, socio-moral knowledge, and sociopolitical knowledge, and the need is to form a democratic society in line with the realization of political democratization.

The Social and Political Context of Conversion in Germany and England 1870–1914

2010 ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Todd M. Endelman
Keyword(s):  
Jewish History ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The First World War ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Modern Jewish History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
First World

This chapter focuses on Jews who left Judaism in the decades before the First World War and who were not attracted by the spiritual truths or ethical values of Christianity. It discusses disaffiliation as a hallmark of modern Jewish history in the West in which the flow out of Judaism was not equally strong in all countries and among all strata of Jewish society. It also analyses the characteristic patterns of drift and defection that emerged in every country or region bearing the impress of larger social and political conditions. The chapter talks about the temptation to abandon Judaism, which increased from 1870 to 1914, when rising antisemitism called into question Jewish integration into state and society with unprecedented intensity. It refers to England and Germany as states with dissimilar political cultures and social systems, which illuminates the history of the Jewish communities there.

Jewish Women’s History: First Steps and a False Start—the Case of Jacob Katz

2007 ◽  
pp. 168-181
Author(s):  
Moshe Rosman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social History ◽  
Jewish Community ◽  
Jewish History ◽  
Jewish Women ◽  
Methodological Innovation ◽  
The Social ◽  
False Start ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

This chapter discusses Jacob Katz, the social historian of the mid-twentieth century. He originated some principles, methods, and concepts that have become critical in pursuing the history of Jewish women and in writing gender-conscious historiography. In discussions about Katz's contribution to the study of the history of the early modern Jewish community, it is standard to emphasize his methodological innovation. In his earlier works Katz applied the methods of ‘social history’ to his research and writing about Jewish history. According to Katz, ‘social history’ had a different aim. It used the tools of sociology, but did so in order to understand the development of a particular historical society over time — that is, through history. Katz was not interested in extrapolating universal laws.

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