Revolution and the Global Struggle for Modernity - (Anthem Intercultural Transfer Studies) by Frank Jacob (Hardcover)

About the Book

The present book provides a comparative ten-step model for revolutions and will show that these must be considered a global phenomenon of modernity.

Book Synopsis

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had realized the power of revolutionary movements within history, and considered them an essential step towards the creation of a classless society. Nevertheless, the number of failed revolutions is as high as the dreams and hopes usually related to a revolutionary change. As a global phenomenon of modernity, the history of revolutions needs to be written comparatively, and for this, a comparative model is without any doubt a necessary tool.
Such a model, namely, a comparative ten-step model, will be provided in this book, to be then used to compare revolutionary case studies. Of course, the similarities among them are of special interest, while the diversity, related to regional or national preconditions, shall not be neglected. However, a comparison promises a better and critical insight into the historical developments of revolutionary processes as such.
The present book will therefore analyze the Atlantic Revolutions at the beginning of the "long" nineteenth century to show how revolutionary processes evolved. It will use the mentioned comparative ten-step model to emphasize similarities with regard to the revolutionary developments in different parts of the world. The book thereby aims at providing a general, but deeper, understanding of revolutions as a global phenomenon of modernity while explaining how revolutionary processes evolve and develop, and how they could and can be corrupted. The revolutionary case studies discussed include the American, the French, and the Haitian Revolution.

Review Quotes

"This manuscript by Professor Frank Jacob, Nord University, Bodø (Norway), examines the three most powerful bourgeois revolutions of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries from a comparative perspective: the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. The author asks to what extent a ten-step revolutionary model developed by him can be applied to these revolutions and to what extent such a model can be generalized." --Prof. Dr. Mario Kessler, Senior Fellow, Leibniz Center for Contemporary History (ZZF), Germany.

"This publication offers a new and global perspective on the relationship between revolution and modernity. Rich in sources and based on a comparative case study between the revolutions in America, France, and Haiti, the book unfolds new findings and approaches for revolutionary studies. This interdisciplinary study will be of interest to historians, political scientists, and sociologists alike." -- Prof. Dr. Jana Günther, Evangelische Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany.

About the Author

Frank Jacob is a professor of global history (nineteenth and twentieth centuries) at Nord Universitet, Norway.