M.A. (Political Studies) / Many works have been written on the subject of revolution, and each author has set out, with a greater or lesser degree of clarity what he means by the term "revolution". The problem is that while there is basically a large measure of underlying agreement amongst the authors, there is simultaneously a large measure of diversity, so that the term "revolution" still remains vague and insufficiently defined. Consequently it was felt that it would be profitable to analyse the meanings that a number of authors attached to the concept, with the intention of determining to what degree it is possible to synthesize a more precise meaning for the concept "revolution" from the existing works on the subject. The procedure that was followed was to compare and analyse the various definitions, descriptions, and expositions of a number of authors, to supplement these with logical deductions, and thus to arrive at a conclusion, on the basis of the opinions of these authors, concerning the distinguishing characteristics of revolution• . By this means it was found that revolution can be defined as radical change, accompanied by violence or threat of violence, that occurs over a relatively short time-span. Further definitional problems became apparent with regard to each of these characteristics. In respect of the characteristics of change, it was found that content must be given to the further aspects of change: its object, its radicality, and its extent...

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): Ahmad G. Ghoreishi, James A. Russell. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-63). Also available online.

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A revision of the author's thesis, Freie Universität Berlin, 1967/68, under the title: Politisch-historische Kritik zur Zeit der Französischen Revolution. / Bibliography: p. 381-397.

Theories of the transition to socialism typically invoke, in one way or another, the notion of revolution. This dissertation is a discussion and analysis, largely conceptual in character, of the political dimensions of this notion. More exactly, it is a discussion of some principal Marxian accounts of revolution. In Part I the theoretical foundations of this account are explored by way of a methodological introduction (invoking the construct of essential contestedness). In Part 2 the contours of this account are sketched, and subjected to some (largely internal) analysis. The focus here is on Marx and the dominant figures in the political tradition to which his work gave rise, namely Lenin, Kautsky, Luxemburg and Gramsci. In Part 3 this distinctively Marxian account is subjected to a critique on two lines: the first line concerns the validity of its account of class, and the second the plausibility of its model of collective action. In both cases the Marxian account is found to be inadequate. Since the very heart of this account is a notion of purposive class action, the Marxian theory of revolution is thus called into serious question. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

Despite an eventful twentieth century highlighted by the rise and fall of socialism and various rebellions against late capitalism, revolution remains aloof from the discourse of literary criticism, in part due to the fashionable concepts of postmodernism. The thesis attempts to bring the very catchword of revolution back to the critical considerations of literary studies through reading three writers, Edmond Jabès, Marguerite Duras and Wong Bik-wan (黃碧雲), attempting to bring them under the same rubric despite their cultural and geographical differences. They are chosen precisely because they explicitly compare their literary endeavors to revolutionary action and, to a certain extent, remain politically active in their personal life. Locating revolution in the context of modernity and modernism as we also do for their works, the thesis argue that, contrary to the dominant academic receptions, it is still possible to conceptualize literary works as a revolutionary and democratic practice which transcends the limits of representative discourses, despite the stagnant political situation of postmodernity and late advanced capitalism, bringing individuality, autonomy and dissidence back to the constitutive part of our community life. The introductory chapter provides overviews of some of the concepts which lay out the relationship between revolution and modernity, and background information on the writers and their academic receptions. Chapter 2 focuses on the narrative aspects of their works, analyzing how the usually private and self-contained practice of reading –often using family union as its conclusion –is forced opened by a certain textual arrangement of events which acknowledges readers as capable of being the receiving end of a contradictory aesthetic experience that cannot be synthesized into a coherent individual response, as summaries of the texts discussed are offered. Chapter 3 explains the various ways by which the writers attempt to liberate the individual from representativity of a given community such as the nation or an ethnicity, so that the same individual can participate in social life in a more individualistic and democratic manner, in which process the readers are also implicated. Chapter 4 compares the social mechanisms of totalitarianism –a modern political phenomenon–to religion and shows how the texts attempt to break through the system under which subjectivity is accrued to a transcendental Other. Chapter 5 tries to pinpoint the social positions, notably children and youth culture, through which hopes of social transformation with a view of a future different from now can be raised, a principle which then fall back upon the writer or the intellectual him-or herself. The current thesis aims to rethink the modern political tradition of revolution and democracy through conceiving literary writing and reading as possible sites of dissidence as well as affirmation of human freedom. / published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

Univ., Diss.--Lisboa, 1997.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1943. / Description based on print version record. Bibliography: p. 171-184.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Political Science, August 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-248). Also available on the Internet.