This study examines an important event in the French Revolution and a defining moment in the career of its principal actor, Maximilien Robespierre: the Festival of the Supreme Being. This day of national celebration was held to inaugurate the new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, and while traditionally it has been dismissed as a compulsory political event, this book redefines its importance as a hugely popular national event. Hitherto unused or disregarded source material offers new perspectives on the national reaction to Robespierre's creation of the Festival and of his search for a new republican morality. This is the first ever detailed study in English of this area of French Revolutionary history, and the first in any language since 1988 It will be welcomed by scholars and students of the period. -- .

Observers of Iran have often ascribed the main cause of the revolution to economic problems under the Shah's regime. This book, first published in 1990, on the other hand focuses on the political and social factors which contributed of the Pahlavi dynasty. Mehran Kamrava looks at the revolution in detail as a political phenomenon, making use of extensive interviews with former revolutionary leaders, cabinet ministers and diplomats to show the central role of the political collapse of the regime in bringing about the revolution. He concentrates on the internal and the international developments leading to this collapse, and the social environment in which the revolution's leaders emerged.

This book investigates how British diplomats in Tehran and London reacted to the overthrow of the Shah and the creation of an Islamic Republic in Iran, which had previously been a major political and commercial partner for London in the Middle East. Making substantial use of recently declassified archival material, the book explores the role of a significant diplomatic institution - the resident embassy - and the impact of revolutions on diplomatic relations. It evaluates the performance of those charged with British diplomacy during the Iranian Revolution, as Britain's position fell from favour under the post-revolutionary regime. Examining the views of key diplomatic personnel at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and British ministers, this study seeks to explain how British policy towards Iran was shaped and the means of diplomacy employed. In charting the evolution of Britain's diplomatic relationship with Iran during this period, a number of factors are considered, including historical experience, geography, economics, world politics and domestic concerns. It also highlights the impact of events within the Iranian domestic political scene which were beyond London's control but which shaped British policy significantly.

For a long time the understanding of the Palestinian question has been dominated by the views offered by the Arab governments on the Israeli establishment. But any close examination of the policies of the Arab regimes would reveal that they have done very little to alleviate the plight of the Palestinians. Since the defeat of the Arab regime in June 1967, an increasing number of Arab scholars and intellectuals have been seriously and independently involved in reassessing the political and social conditions of their societies. This book, first published in 1979, is part of that more general attempt to discover the deep-rooted causes of defeat and the general state of socio-economic underdevelopment of the Arab region. The central theme of the four essays in this study pertains to the fluctuating relationship between the Arab regimes and the Palestinian Resistance Movement. It is within this context that the first essay examines the various factors which shaped the relationship at different intervals. The second then goes on to present a case study of how the contradictions between the Arab regimes and the Resistance Movement operate in a crisis situation and reach the level of an armed confrontation. The third essay examines the prospects for peace and war in the region in the light of the political conditions given before Sadat's visit to Israel. And finally the fourth essay is concerned with Sadat's peace initiative and its consequences on the relations between Egypt and the Palestinian Resistance Movement.

Yang Jisheng's The World Turned Upside Down is the definitive history of the Cultural Revolution, in withering and heartbreaking detail. As a major political event and a crucial turning point in the history of the People's Republic of China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) marked the zenith as well as the nadir of Mao Zedong's ultra-leftist politics. Reacting in part to the Soviet Union's "revisionism" that he regarded as a threat to the future of socialism, Mao mobilized the masses in a battle against what he called "bourgeois" forces within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This ten-year-long class struggle on a massive scale devastated traditional Chinese culture as well as the nation's economy. Following his groundbreaking and award-winning history of the Great Famine, Tombstone, Yang Jisheng here presents the only history of the Cultural Revolution by an independent scholar based in mainland China, and makes a crucial contribution to understanding those years' lasting influence today. The World Turned Upside Down puts every political incident, major and minor, of those ten years under extraordinary and withering scrutiny, and arrives in English at a moment when contemporary Chinese governance is leaning once more toward a highly centralized power structure and Mao-style cult of personality.

The German Social Democratic Party was the world's first million-strong political party and was the main force pushing for the democratisation of Imperial Germany before the First World War. This book examines the themes around which the party organized its mainly working-class membership, and analyses the experiences and outlook of rank-and-file party members as well as the party's press and publications. Key topics of inquiry include: the Lassalle cult and leadership, nationalism and internationalism, attitudes to work, the politics of subsistence, the effects of military service, reading and the diffusion of Marx's ideas, cultural organisations, and socialism and republicanism under the Imperial German state. Through these various avenues, Bonnell explores the remarkable degree to which the party successfully addressed workers' everyday concerns while also offering the prospect of a better future.

The French Revolution catapulted Europe into a new period of political upheaval, social change, and into the modern era. This book provides a concise introduction to the impact of the French Revolution on Britain and to the ways in which this impact has been assessed by historians. The book is organised thematically. It begins with a survey of the ideological debate sparked off by the Revolution discussing, in particular, the work of people such as Burke, Paine, Spence and Wollstonecraft. From here it presents an exploration of the Revolution s impact on * Parliamentary polities * The growth of radicalism and loyalism * The way in which French ideas influenced Irish aspirations to generate rebellion The third main section of the book focuses on the causes and course of Britain s war with Revolutionary France, and on the effects of the war on the home front, most notably the recurrent, serious food shortages.

Concerns about CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear) weapons have featured prominently in both political debates and media reporting about the ongoing threat from al Qaeda since 9/11. This book provides a chronological account of al Qaeda's efforts to acquire a CBRN weapon capability, and the evolution of the al Qaeda leadership's approach to actually using CBRN weapons, set against the context of the politicisation of the threat of CBRN terrorism in US security debates. Ben Cole explores how the inherently political nature of terrorist CBRN threats has helped to shape al Qaeda's approach to CBRN weapons, and shows how the heightened political sensitivities surrounding the threat have enabled some governments to manipulate it in order to generate domestic and international support for controversial policies, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He assesses the relative success of the al Qaeda leadership's political approach to CBRN weapons, together with the relative success of efforts by the US, UK and Russian governments to exploit the al Qaeda CBRN threat for their wider political purposes. Shedding new light on al Qaeda's tactics and strategy, this book will be essential reading for scholars of terrorism and extremism studies.

First published in 1983. Balzac's novels are one of the largest and most important sources for the history of post-revolutionary France, but they have scarcely been tapped as they should be. Approaching the subject from the perspective of a literary, the author shows in detail how specific historical circumstances and movement are reflected in t

This important book reassesses a defining historical, political and ideological moment in contemporary history: the 1989 revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, the authors reconsider such crucial themes as the broader historical significance of the 1989 events, the complex interaction between external and internal factors in the origins and outcomes of the revolutions, the impact of the 'Gorbachev phenomenon', the West and the end of the Cold War, the political and socio-economic determinants of the revolutionary processes in Poland, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, and the competing academic, cultural and ideological perceptions of the year 1989 as communism gave way to post-communist pluralism in the 1990s and beyond. Concluding that the contentious term 'revolution' is indeed apt for the momentous developments in eastern Europe in 1989, this book will be essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and specialists alike. -- .

First published in 1984, this book provides the first full study of the carefully planned rising of south Wales miners and ironworkers in 1839 and of its collapse at the confrontation with soldiers of the 45th regiment of Newport. It examines not only the rising itself, but the factors that made it, if not inevitable, then likely. It argues that while the workers' movement was an immediate response to the grim circumstances of the workplace, it was also deeply rooted in the centuries-old Welsh experience of repression. This title will be of particular interest to students of Victorian political and social history and well as the history of Wales.

Originally published in 1956, this masterly essay weaves together the results of research with an independence of judgement which could only come from a long-established expert in the field of Revolutionary studies. The book examines the causes of the French Revolution and the economics involved in the weakness of France's pre-revolutionary form of government as well as the administrative complexity which was an effective stumbling block in the way of monarchy. As well as charting key events in the revolution, the conclusion discusses the significance of the French Revolution in the context of other revolutions in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Dr Wright tackles the many controversies surrounding the French Revolution. He also reviews the arguments of leading historians, and analyses some of the key documentary evidence on which they have based their judgements.

When the ancien regime collapsed during the summer of 1789 the newspaper press was free for the first time in French history. The result was an explosion in the number of newspapers with over 2,000 titles appearing between 1789 and 1799. This study, originally published in 1988, traces the growth of the French Press during this time, showing the importance of the emergence of provincial newspapers, and examining the relationship of journalism with political power. Concluding chapters discuss the economics of newspapers during the decade, analysing the machinery of printing, distribution and sales.

This book, originally published in 1992, traces the discourse on the French Revolution in Germany and its contributors investigate the processes and results of adopting or rejecting the values of the French Revolution in Germany and reinterprets its documents in terms of their internalization. One of the questions discussed is whether the French Revolution is part of Germany's progressive tradition, that is, whether it has been repressed or whether it constitutes a viable counter-discourse within the political culture. The first successful revolution in Germany - the 'Velvet Revolution' of Autumn 1989 does not fit the definition of 'classic revolutions, but it ended in a change of power in Germany and in that respect, this book is an anatomy of German political consciousness before 1989.

This book examines the European world before 1789, recounts the history of the revolution in France itself and then explores its monumental impact on European society. The book focusses on the causes of this impact and discusses the levels of thinking, communication, social, political, and economic conditions in France at the time, which combined to make the revolution possible and which were similar to those developments elsewhere in Europe.

The English Revolution of 1642-60 produced an explosion of stylistically and ideologically diverse pamphlet literature. The essays collected here focus on the prose of this new revolutionary era, and the new public sphere it helped to create. They cover a wide range of topics including the Royalist attack on the Sectarian Babel and the street theatre of the Ranters.

First published in 1975, this book is concerned with the facts and implications of the case of Lin Piao and his army, as well as with the broader question of military intervention in the authoritarian polity of developing countries. A wide range of materials is presented, including "top-secret" documents of the CCP Central Committee, Lin Piao's own writings and speeches from the 1966-1970 period, pertinent material from the Tenth Party Congress, and press criticism. In their introduction, the author provides a thorough critical analysis of the case of Lin Piao and of the dynamic of power politics that emerged from the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s.

The emerging literature on the so-called 'Arab Spring' has largely focused on the evolution of the uprisings in cities and power centres. In order to reach a more diversified and inner understanding of the 'Arab Spring', this edited book examines how peripheries have reacted and contributed to the historical dynamics at work in the Middle East and North Africa. It rejects the idea that the 'Arab Spring' is a unitary process and shows that it consists of diverse Springs which differed in terms of opportunity structure, strategies of a variance of actors, and outcomes. This book looks at geographical, religious, gender and ethnical peripheries, conceptualizing periphery as a dynamic structure which can expand and contract. It shows that the seeds for changing the face of politics and polities are within peripheries themselves. Focusing on the voices of peripheries can therefore be a powerful tool to 'de-simplify' the reading of the Arab Spring and to reshape the paradigmatic schemes through which to look at this part of the world. This book was published as a special issue of Mediterranean Politics.

This book, originally published in 1979, traces the growth of English radicalism from the time of Wilkes to the final suppression of the radical societies in 1799. The metropolitan radical movement is described in the context of the general democratic evolution of the West in the age of the American and French revolutions, by showing how its direction was influenced by events in France, Scotland and Ireland. The book emphasizes the importance of the great regional centres of provincial radicalism and of the evolution of a local, radical press. It also throws light on the impact of Painite radicalism, the origins of Anglo-french hostilities in 1793, the English treason trials of 1794, the protest movement of 1795 and the final phase of Anglo-Irish clandestine republicanism.

Children of the Broken Treaty exposes a system of apartheid in Canada that led to the largest youth-driven human rights movement in the country's history. The movement was inspired by Shannen Koostachin, a young Cree woman whom George Stroumboulopoulos named as one of "five teenage girls who kicked ass in history". All Shannen wanted was a decent education. She found an ally in Charlie Angus, who had no idea she was going to change his life and inspire others to change the country. Based on extensive documentation assembled from Freedom of Information requests, Angus establishes a dark, unbroken line that extends from Sir John A. Macdonald's time to today. He provides chilling insight into how Canada -- through breaches of treaties, broken promises, and callous neglect -- deliberately denied Indigenous children their basic human rights. In this new edition of Charlie Angus's award-winning and bestselling book, he brings us up-to-date on the unrelenting epidemic of youth suicides in Indigenous communities, the Thunder Bay inquiry into the shocking deaths of young people there, the powerful impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, and how the Trudeau government's commitment to Indigenous communities continues to be stymied by decades-old policy roadblocks.

This compelling book explores how Egyptian bloggers used citizen journalism and cyberactivism to chip away at the state's monopoly on information and recalibrate the power dynamics between an authoritarian regime and its citizens. When the Arab uprisings broke out in early 2011 and ousted entrenched leaders across the region, social media and the Internet were widely credited with playing a role, particularly when the Egyptian government shut down the Internet and mobile phone networks in an attempt to stave off the unrest there. But what these reports missed were the years of grassroots organizing, digital activism, and political awareness-raising that laid the groundwork for this revolutionary change. Radsch argues that Egyptian bloggers created new social movements using blogging and social media, often at significant personal risk, so that less than a decade after the information revolution came to Egypt they successfully mobilized the overthrow of the state and its president.

This pioneering explanation of the Arab Spring will define a new era of thinking about the Middle East. In this landmark book, Hamid Dabashi argues that the revolutionary uprisings that have engulfed multiple countries and political climes from Morocco to Iran and from Syria to Yemen, were driven by a 'Delayed Defiance' - a point of rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalized disempowerment alike - that signifies no less than the end of Postcolonialism. Sketching a new geography of liberation, Dabashi shows how the Arab Spring has altered the geopolitics of the region so radically that we must begin re-imagining the 'the Middle East'. Ultimately, the 'permanent revolutionary mood' Dabashi brilliantly explains has the potential to liberate not only those societies already ignited, but many others through a universal geopolitics of hope.

In the fall of 2002, Liberty Fund published noted historian Bernhard Knollenberg's "Origin of the American Revolution." Now Liberty Fund proudly announces the publication of the second volume of Knollenberg's masterwork on the American Revolution.
Knollenberg describes "Growth of the American Revolution" as ." . . an Account of the Change in the Minds and Hearts of a Majority of the People of the Thirteen Colonies Who Rebelled against Great Britain in 1775, together with a description of the Provocative Conduct of the British Parliament and Government Accounting for this Change and the Colonists' Responses to the said Conduct."
Continuing the work Knollenberg began in the first book, "Growth of the American Revolution" covers the period from the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 to the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Taken together, these volumes present a cogent and authoritative history from an objective and scholarly point of view.
Bernard W. Sheehan is Professor emeritus of history at Indiana University and past editor of the "Indiana Magazine of History."

In this study, which highlights a renewed emphasis in international affairs on regional studies, the co-authors provide an assessment of the revolutionary changes in the politics and security of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).