In this 25th anniversary edition, Goldstone reflects on the history of revolutions in the last twenty-five years, from the Philippines and other color revolutions to the Arab Uprisings and the rise of the Islamic State. In a new introduction, he re-examines his pioneering look at the role of population changes—such as rising youth cohorts, urbanization, shifting elite mobility––as continuing causal factors of revolutions and rebellions. The new concluding chapter updates his major theory and looks to the future of revolutions in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Jack A. Goldstone is Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr. Professor of Public Policy and Eminent Scholar at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He has previously taught at Northwestern University, the University of California, and the California Institute of Technology.