| dc.description.abstract | Scholars have studied revolution from many different perspectives, examining its causes, processes, and outcomes. This particular study focuses on the outcomes of revolution, specifically asking how revolution affects internal social conditions. Political scientists have asked this question before, and their answers have been contradictory, at best.
I am attempting to reconcile some of those divisive answers by testing the two most reliable models available. Model I argues that factors of the revolution itself cause trends in social conditions in the post-revolutionary country, while Model II holds that a revolutionary country's economic position in global terms, commonly one of dependency, is responsible for post-revolutionary social conditions. A brief survey of the most recent literature will show why this study is appropriate and where it fits into the current body of revolution theory.
The different factors affecting revolutionary outcomes that scholars have isolated fall into three general categories: state-level, economic, and individual-level. State-level factors include such variables as the form of government and the strength of the state. The economic factors cover such variables as the level, speed and type of development and the ownership of the means of production. Individual-level factors are concerned with the individual's role in politics and the prevailing social order. For example, the quality of leadership, human capital, and class structure are human-level factors.
Although scholars have grouped factors affecting social conditions into the above categories, further analysis has created two more general categories, factors of the revolution and external factors. These more general categories somewhat overlap the three mentioned above. Factors of the revolution include variables that represent characteristics of the revolution itself, whereas external factors are variables which represent characteristics of international politics and economics. For example, the behavior of external actors, the level of external debt, and the level of foreign aid are external factors.
The contrasts between factors of the revolution and external factors as explanatory variables has formed the theoretical basis of this paper. The two models which this research examines are derived from these contrasts, such that analysis of each model and comparison of both models should help identify the theory with the most explanatory strength. The following literature review will discuss Model I first. | en |
