Revolution and Dictatorship, Steven Levitsky
Revolution and Dictatorship, Steven Levitsky
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Revolution and Dictatorship
The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism

Author: Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way

Narrator: Joe Barrett

Unabridged: 17 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/13/2022


Synopsis

Revolution and Dictatorship explores why dictatorships born of social revolution—such as those in China, Cuba, Iran, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam—are extraordinarily durable, even in the face of economic crisis, large-scale policy failure, mass discontent, and intense external pressure. Few other modern autocracies have survived in the face of such extreme challenges. Drawing on comparative historical analysis, Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way argue that radical efforts to transform the social and geopolitical order trigger intense counterrevolutionary conflict, which initially threatens regime survival, but ultimately fosters the unity and state-building that supports authoritarianism.

Although most revolutionary governments begin weak, they challenge powerful domestic and foreign actors, often bringing about civil or external wars. These counterrevolutionary wars pose a threat that can destroy new regimes, as in the cases of Afghanistan and Cambodia. Among regimes that survive, however, prolonged conflicts give rise to a cohesive ruling elite and a powerful and loyal coercive apparatus. This leads to the downfall of rival organizations and alternative centers of power, such as armies, churches, and landowners, and helps to inoculate revolutionary regimes against elite defection, military coups, and mass protest—principal sources of authoritarian breakdown.

About Steven Levitsky

Steven Levitsky is the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American studies, professor of government, and director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. His books include How Democracies Die and Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America.


Reviews

Joder esto sí es ciencia política. No pero sin bromear, el libro es ejemplar. Propone una tesis clara, una conceptualización que aunque un poco arbitraria, es precisa, y una selección de casos de lo más ilustradora. Mis únicas críticas, que realmente dan paso a expandir los horizontes de la tesis de......more

Goodreads review by Enerel

What a brilliant set of criteria to examine and follow through history that the authors have put forward for consideration. This book is filled with daunting, yet intensely interesting, ideas about violent repression and war, and how these tragedies have actually molded some modern states into a muc......more

Goodreads review by Scott

(2.5 stars) (Audiobook) This is one of those works that it is probably better to read hard copy vs. audiobook. The writing and subject matter are of an academic nature and as such, it can be hard to catch the meanings and details in audio form. There is compelling information, and it covers a wide s......more

Goodreads review by Pablo

both the phenomenon of revolution and that of dictatorships have challenged societies turning them into great black holes: do dictatorships beget revolutions or do revolutions beget dictatorships? But this book poses an answer: not everything we thought was a revolution is. Not all eggs were chicken e......more