HIS 400W COMPARATIVE REVOLUTIONS

 

Kenneth J. Orosz                                                                                                                                                                    Office Hours: T 3:00-4:00

Spring 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                W 10:00-12:00

Class Meetings: Classroom Bldg C204                                                                                                                                    Office: Classroom Bldg C230

            W 4:30-7:10                                                                                                                                                               Telephone: 878-3203

                                                                                                                                                                                               E-mail: oroszkj@buffalostate.edu


COURSE DESCRIPTION:

            After a brief theoretical introduction on what constitutes a revolution, this course will devote the remainder of the semester to examining a series of case studies in comparative fashion. These case studies may include the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the Bolshevik Revolution, Mao's rise to power, the Cuban Revolution, Decolonization, the Velvet Revolutions of 1989, and the recent Arab Spring.


REQUIREMENTS:

            Academic misconduct (including cheating and plagiarism) will not be tolerated. Buffalo State College policies on academic misconduct, including the possible use of textual similarity detection software, are outlined on page 43 of the college catalog. Please note that the minimum penalty for cases of academic misconduct will be an F on the assignment.

            Reading assignments are to be completed by the dates given. There will be a midterm and a final examination (both take-home). Please note that in order to earn more than a B on the essay portion of the exams you must make use of the relevant assigned readings and historical documents. In addition to the 2 exams, students will write 2 five page critical reviews of assigned texts and a 15 historiographical paper. For the critical reviews students will write about the Brinton book (due February 3) and the assigned texts on the Chinese revolution (due March 30). All historiographical paper topics must be authorized by me and must conform to the geographic and temporal confines of this course. As part of this process students are required to submit their paper topics in the form of written proposals no later than March 2. Failure to submit a passing proposal means that your paper (due May 4) will not be accepted and you will earn an E for that portion of the course. All papers and reviews must conform to the History Style Sheet. Detailed instructions on the writing assignments, including the style sheet, can be found in Blackboard or by clicking the syllabi and course materials links at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/oroszkj. Go to http://cts.buffalostate.edu/blackboard-0 for Blackboard help.

            Please note that in order to pass this course you must make a good faith attempt to complete all components and requirements. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR ARRANGEMENT. Incompletes will be granted at the sole discretion of the instructor and require a written application outlining the rationale behind granting the incomplete, a list of outstanding assignments and a timetable for their completion. This application must be signed and, if granted, will constitute a formal contract for the completion of the course.

Grades will be computed as follows:
Midterm                                20%               Final                  20%

                        First Critical Review              10%                 Paper               25%

                        Second Critical Review          10%                Participation      15%


BOOKS: The following books are required reading and are available in the bookstore:

            Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution                                                                            ISBN    978-0-804-79616-3

            Crane Brinton, Anatomy of Revolution                                                                                           978-0-394-70044-1

            James DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, 5th ed.                                             978-0-813-34924-4

            Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World                                                                                 978-0-674-01826-6       

            Sheila Fitzpartick, The Russian Revolution, 3rd ed.                                                                          978-0-199-23767-8  

            Gary Kates, The French Revolution: Recent Debates & New Controversies, 2nd ed.                      978-0-415-35833-0  


SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS:

             Supplemental readings (indicated in italics on the syllabus) can be accessed in one of 3 ways: 1) if it is a website, there will be a link to it from the electronic version of the syllabus available in Blackboard or on my web page at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/oroszkj. 2) Journal articles can be accessed via the library’s Academic Search Premier or JSTOR databases; 3) highlighted readings are available in Blackboard under the Content tab.


CLASS SCHEDULE

January 27      Introduction

   Read:            Communist Manifesto Excerpts

                        Alexis de Toqueville, “The French Revolution and the Growth of State,” in

Revolutions:Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 31-33.

                        Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, trans. Stuart

Gilbert (New York: Anchor Books, 1955), 176-177.

                        Max Weber, “Charisma, Bureaucracy and Revolution,”in Revolutions:

Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 33-36.

 

February 3      Theories of Revolution I

   Read:            Crane Brinton, Anatomy of a Revolution

            Lawrence Stone, “Theories of Revolution,” World Politics, 18, no. 2 (January

1966): 159-176

            Perez Zagorin, “Theories of Revolution in Contemporary Historiography,”

           Political Science Quarterly, 88, no. 1 (March 1973): 23-52.

                        First Critical Review Due

 

February 10    Theories of Revolution II

   Read:            Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp 1-21

                        DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Introduction & Ch 1

Robert Snyder, “The End of Revolution,” The Review of Politics 61, no. 1

(Winter 1999): 5-28

            Jack Goldstone, “Toward a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory,”

Annual Review of Political Science 4 (2001):139-187.

                        Eric Wolf, “Peasants and Revolutions,” in Revolutions: Theoretical, Comparative

& Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 55-63.

                        Eric Selbin, “Agency and Culture in Revolutions,” in Revolutions: Theoretical,

Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 76-84.

 

February 17    US Revolution

    Read:           "The American Revolution: An Historiographical Introduction," British Library,

accessed January 19, 2016, http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/

americanrevolution/The%20American%20Revolution%20historiography.

pdf. Click here

                        Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 103-117

                        Sofya Medvedev, “Was the American Revolution a Revolution?” American

History from Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond, accessed January 20, 2016, http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/before-1800/was-the-american-

revolution-a-revolution/. Click here

Gordon Wood, “The American Revolution,” in Revolutions: A Comparative

Study, ed. Lawrence Kaplan (New York: Vintage Books, 1973): 113-148.

            Jack Greene, “The American Revolution” American Historical Review 105, no. 1

                                    (February 2000): 93-102.

            Colin Bonwick, “The American Revolution 1763-1791” in Revolutions and the

Revolutionary Tradition in the West 1560-1991, ed. David Parker (New York: Routledge, 2000): 68-87 click here

            Woody Holton, “Unruly Americans in the Revolution,” The Gilder Lehrman

Institute of American History, accessed January 20, 2016, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/road-revolution/essays/

unruly-americans-revolution. Click here

Carol Berkin, “Teaching the Revolution,” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of

American History, accessed January 20, 2016, https://www.gilder

lehrman.org/history-by-era/war-for-independence/resources/teaching-

revolution.

 

February 24    French Revolution

    Read:           Jacques Sole, “Historiography of the French Revolution,” in Companion to

Historiography, ed. Michael Bentley (New York: Routledge, 1997), 509–25.

Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp 71-102, 118-147.

                        Gary Kates, The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies

 

March 2          Haitian Revolution

    Read:           Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World

                        Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 148-165

David Fistein, “Theory and the Social Revolution in Haiti,” Journal of Haitian

Studies, 15, no 1-2 (Fall 2009): 180-202.

Franklin Knight, “The Haitian Revolution,” American Historical Review 105,

no. 1 (February 2000):103-115.

                        Paper Proposals Due

 

March 9          Revolutions of 1848

    Read:           John Breuilly, “The Revolutions of 1848,” in Revolutions and the Revolutionary

Tradition in the West 1560-1991, ed. David Parker (New York: Routledge, 2000): 109-131. Click here

                        Peter Amann, “The Changing Outlines of 1848,” American Historical Review 68,

no. 4 (July 1963): 938-953.

Gareth Stedman Jones, "The Mid-Century Crisis and the 1848 Revolutions,"

Theory and History 12, no. 4 (July 1983): 505-519.

                        Helge Berger and Mark Spoerer “Economic Crises and the European Revolutions

of 1848,” Journal of Economic History 61, no. 2 (June 2001): 293-326.

                        Claus Møller Jørgensen, “Transurban Interconnectivities: an Essay on the

Interpretation of the Revolutions of 1848,” European Review of History/revue européenne d’histoire 19, no. 2 (2012): 201-227.

                        Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 169-198

                        Take Home Mid-term

 

March 16        Bolshevik Revolution 

    Read:           Lenin, What is to be Done?

                        Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution

                        De Fronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 2

                        Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 199-227

                        Maureen Perrie, “The Russian Revolution,” Revolutions and the Revolutionary

Tradition in the West 1560-1991, ed. David Parker (New York: Routledge, 2000): 151-168. Click here

                        Take Home Mid-term Due in Class

 

March 23        No Class

 

March 30        Chinese Revolution

    Read:           Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 231-260

                        DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 3          

                        Mark Selden, “The Chinese Communist Revolution,” in Revolutions:

Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 191-200.

                        Philip Huang, “Rural Class Struggle in the Chinese Revolution: Representational

and Objective Realities from the Land Reform to the Cultural Revolution,” Modern China 21, no. 1 (January 1995): 105-143.

                        Joseph Esherick, “Ten Theses on the Chinese Revolution,” Modern China 21, no.

1 (January 1995): 45-76.

Tang Tsou, “Interpreting the Revolution in China: Macrohistory and

Micromechanisms,” Modern China 26, no. 2 (April 2000): 205-238.

                        Second Critical Review Due

 

April 6            Cuban Revolution

    Read:           Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 267-286

                        DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 5

                        Maurice Zeitlin, “The Cuban Revolution,” in Revolutions: A Comparative Study,

ed. Lawrence Kaplan (New York: Vintage Books, 1973): 419-429.

                        Thomas Leonard, “The Cuban Revolution,” in Revolutions: Theoretical,

Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 201-211.

                        Kate Quinn, “Cuban Historiography in the 1960s: Revisionists, Revolutionaries

and the Nationalist Past,” Bulletin of Latin American Research 26, no. 3(July 2007): 378-398.

 

April 13          Decolonization: Algeria and Vietnam

    Read:           DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 4

                        Michael D. Richards, “The Vietnamese Revolution,” in Michael D. Richards,

Revolutions in World History (NY: Routledge, 2004): 55-71.

                        Mark Selden, “People’s War in China and Vietnam,” in Revolutions: A

Comparative Study, ed. Lawrence Kaplan (NY: Vintage Books, 1973), 369-404.

                        Nico Kielstra, “Was the Algerian Revolution a Peasant War?” Peasant Studies

7, no. 3 (Summer 1978): 172-186

            Robert Revere, “Revolutionary Ideology in Algeria,” Polity, 5, no. 4 (Summer

1973): 477-488

 

April 20          Iranian Revolution 

    Read:           Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 307-324

                        DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 7

                        Jerrold Green, “Countermobilization in the Iranian Revolution,” in Revolutions:

Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 235-245.

                        Nikki Keddie, “Iranian Revolutions in Comparative Perspective” American

Historical Review 88, no. 3 (June 1983): 579-598.

                        Michael D. Richards, “The Iranian Revolution,” in Michael D. Richards,

Revolutions in World History (NY: Routledge, 2004): 73-86.

 

April 27          Velvet Revolutions

    Read:           DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 10

                         Robert Daniels, “The anti-Communist Revolutions in the Soviet Union and

Eastern Europe, 1989 to 1991,” Revolutions and the Revolutionary

Tradition in the West 1560-1991, ed. David Parker (New York: Routledge, 2000), 202-224. Click here

                        Jack Goldstone, “Revolution in the USSR, 1989-1991,” in Revolutions:

Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 261-271.

                        Jeff Goodwin, “The East European Revolutions of 1989,” in Revolutions:

Theoretical, Comparative & Historical Studies, 3rd ed., ed. Jack Goldstone (Belmont CA: Wadsworth, 2003), 255-260.

                        Robert Goldstein, “Comparing the European Revolutions of 1848 and 1989,”

Society 44 no 6 (September 2007): 155-159

 

May 4             Arab Spring

    Read:           Baker & Edelstein, Scripting Revolution, pp. 325-343

                        DeFronzo, Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements, Ch 11

            Kurt Weyland, “The Arab Spring: Why the Surprising Similarities with the

Revolutionary Wave of 1848?” Perspectives on Politics 10, no. 4 (December 2012): 917-934.

                        Historiographical Paper due


  

May 11           Final Exam due 4:30 

Guidelines for Writing Assignments

              While your papers will be graded primarily on content, grammatical accuracy, style, presentation and organization will also be taken into account. All papers are required to adhere to the History Style Sheet which is available in Blackboard and on my web site under Course Materials. Failure to follow the style sheet will result in significant penalties; these consist of at least the loss of a full letter grade for each category of violation (i.e. use of contractions will cost you a letter grade, reducing an A paper to a B). This includes paper length, non-standard fonts, margins and line spacing. Please note that a short paper is not necessarily a bad paper; I am primarily interested in what you have to say, how well you say it and if you have developed your thesis and argument sufficiently.

             As you write your papers feel free to paraphrase or quote suitable passages that illustrate your points. However, if you quote or paraphrase, you must cite the relevant passage. You must also cite detailed information (e.g. statistics) or items that are not common knowledge. Proper citation formats can be found in the History Style Sheet which is available in Blackboard and on my web site. The minimum penalty for plagiarism is an F on the assignment.1 For more information on plagiarism, how to footnote, or how to write a research paper consult the relevant sections of Benjamin’s A Student’s Guide to History. If you are still unclear about when or how to cite please come see me during my office hours. That is why I am there.

             Since much of what is out on the internet is of dubious quality, the use of web pages as source material is strictly forbidden unless authorized by me in writing. The only exceptions to this rule are the individual web sites that I have assigned as required reading material. On a similar note, the use of encyclopedias is also forbidden. While they may be useful reference tools or for providing an overview of a particular topic, encyclopedias have no place in college level work. Articles in historical encyclopedias (i.e. The Encyclopedia of European Social History) may be acceptable, but must first be cleared by me in writing.

             I am obviously a firm believer in written assignments since they help develop your organizational, analytical and communication skills, all of which are things you will need in the workplace. Consequently, I expect you to treat all graded assignments (in this or any other class) as preparations for your future career. Turning in business reports that are filled with grammatical errors, failures in logic, poor argumentation and lack of evidence portrays a degree of incompetence, even if it is undeserved, and will probably get you fired. Get in the habit now of proofreading your work to catch typos, misspellings and nonsensical statements. Read your papers aloud to see how they sound. Better still, have a friend or roommate read your work since they are more likely to notice any problems. Most of you will be writing your papers on wordprocessors. No matter what program you use, they all have spell checkers. It is silly and self-defeating not to make use of them.

             While I do not allow rewrites once papers have been graded, I will read and comment on rough drafts if I am given enough time. Alternatively, you may want to consult either the campus writing center or some of the history tutors for help or advice. Keep your notes and copies of your paper to facilitate rewrites and to safeguard against loss, computer errors, random destruction by pets and similar catastrophes. Finally, and most importantly, if you are having any problems in this course come see me.

 

Critical Reviews

             All students will write 2 five page (1500 word) critical reviews of the Brinton book (due February 3) and the assigned Chinese Revolution texts (due April 6). What is a critical review? The purpose of a critical review is to help other scholars know if reading the text(s) are worth the investment of their limited time. Readers want to know the book/articles’ main thesis, how well they supports that thesis, and how it fits in with the existing scholarship on the subject. No one cares if you liked the book/articles or found them boring; comments of that nature are irrelevant and have no place in a critical review. Do not feel compelled to be negative. “Critical” in this context merely means analysis of the texts in question, what they try to do and how well they do it. You should also restrict your comments to what the author wrote, not what you wish he or she had written. For example, if the book was about the role of the Pope in the Reformation it makes no sense to complain that the author overlooked the role of women. On the other hand, if you feel that there are problems with the author’s conclusions or interpretations then you should comment on them. It is also fair to mention glaring omissions of fact or misuse of evidence. Furthermore, it is appropriate to comment on work that still needs to be done, but you must keep those comments within the context of the book that was actually written (i.e. regarding our Pope in the Reformation example, it would be appropriate to note that more work needs to be done at examining the private papers of the Popes in order to determine their real thoughts on Luther and his message). Do not waste your or the reader’s time commenting on petty things like typos unless they are evidence of sloppy research or change the meaning of evidence.

             Generally speaking your review should open with a capsule summary of the primary thesis of the texts (i.e. the American Revolution was a real revolution). You should then go on to explain what the texts try to do as a whole and give some idea of how well they succeed. You should also explain why the subject is important and assess the texts’ ability to add to the scholarly discussion on the topic (i.e. do we really need another biography of Lincoln? What makes this one different or better?).

             In the body of the review you can mention specific parts of the book/articles that did or did not work well, but you should not be writing a chapter by chapter summary or analysis. You will also need to comment on the sources/methods used and the range of topics covered. Was the argument proven? Is the analysis sustained and supported? How complete is the coverage? Was there enough detail? How does the book compare with others on the same subject?

             Please note: For the review on the Chinese Revolution texts, you do not have to include every article in your critical analysis, but you will need to cover at least 2-3 of the assigned items.

 

Historiographical Paper

             In addition to the book reviews, all students will write a 15 page (4500 word) historiographical essay on a topic of their own choosing. This essay will be due on the final day of class (May 4). While the actual topics for your papers are up to you, they must remain within the geographical and temporal confines of this course. The paper should analyze some historical facet of revolutions in detail as covered in the relevant secondary literature. Your essay must provide historical context and must then trace and critically assess the existing historical literature on your chosen topic. In addition to summarizing the perspectives of various historians on your chosen topic, you must also analyze the strengths and weaknesses of those views. That analysis should include a discussion of the authors’ usage of primary sources and how their interpretations might have been influenced by the time period or conditions in which they wrote.

             All paper topics must be cleared with me first in the form of a written paper proposal due no later than March 2. Complete proposals must briefly outline your topic and/or the specific issues you intend to address, and must include a bibliography. If, after you have begun researching and writing your paper, you choose to use additional sources, you must submit an amended bibliography to me in writing. Papers that use unauthorized materials will not be accepted. Similarly, papers that deviate significantly from your research proposal will also not be accepted. This does not mean, however, that you are permanently locked in to a particular paper topic; if you change your mind and opt to pursue some other topic you must submit a new paper proposal which may or may not be accepted at my discretion.

             Some possible paper topics include:

                  

             Revolution and Political Violence                                     The Spartakist Revolt

             The Failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956                        The Prague Spring

             Women in the French Revolution                                      Decolonization and Revolution

1Buffalo State College, Undergraduate Catalog 2015-2016, 40.