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The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion
How and why cities have become the predominant sites for revolutionary upheavals in the contemporary world
Examining the changing character of revolution around the world, The Revolutionary City focuses on the impact that the concentration of people, power, and wealth in cities exercises on revolutionary processes and outcomes. Once predominantly an urban and armed affair, revolutions in the twentieth century migrated to the countryside, as revolutionaries searched for safety from government repression and discovered the peasantry as a revolutionary force. But at the end of the twentieth century, as urban centers grew, revolution returned to the city―accompanied by a new urban civic repertoire espousing the containment of predatory government and relying on visibility and the power of numbers rather than arms.
Using original data on revolutionary episodes since 1900, public opinion surveys, and engaging examples from around the world, Mark Beissinger explores the causes and consequences of the urbanization of revolution in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Beissinger examines the compact nature of urban revolutions, as well as their rampant information problems and heightened uncertainty. He investigates the struggle for control over public space, why revolutionary contention has grown more pacified over time, and how revolutions involving the rapid assembly of hundreds of thousands in central urban spaces lead to diverse, ad hoc coalitions that have difficulty producing substantive change.
The Revolutionary City provides a new understanding of how revolutions happen and what they might look like in the future.
Examining the changing character of revolution around the world, The Revolutionary City focuses on the impact that the concentration of people, power, and wealth in cities exercises on revolutionary processes and outcomes. Once predominantly an urban and armed affair, revolutions in the twentieth century migrated to the countryside, as revolutionaries searched for safety from government repression and discovered the peasantry as a revolutionary force. But at the end of the twentieth century, as urban centers grew, revolution returned to the city―accompanied by a new urban civic repertoire espousing the containment of predatory government and relying on visibility and the power of numbers rather than arms.
Using original data on revolutionary episodes since 1900, public opinion surveys, and engaging examples from around the world, Mark Beissinger explores the causes and consequences of the urbanization of revolution in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Beissinger examines the compact nature of urban revolutions, as well as their rampant information problems and heightened uncertainty. He investigates the struggle for control over public space, why revolutionary contention has grown more pacified over time, and how revolutions involving the rapid assembly of hundreds of thousands in central urban spaces lead to diverse, ad hoc coalitions that have difficulty producing substantive change.
The Revolutionary City provides a new understanding of how revolutions happen and what they might look like in the future.
592 pages, Paperback
Published April 12, 2022
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July 18, 2025
Goes into excellent depth on urban civic revolutionary contention, including their onset, character, and outcomes.
I disagree with some classifications like a lack of "partial victories," and some absolute assertions like that social revolution is over (contradicted by some important recent ones like the Rojava Revolution, and his own acknowledgement that the onset of new revolutionary waves take surprising turns, undulations, etc. and that inequality is an increasing concern).
That said, I think his methodologies are largely sound in justifying the proximity dilemma and urbanization in understanding revolutions, distinguishing empirical findings on urban civic revolutions from those of other revolutions, taking a probabalistic approach rather than either a deterministic or unpredictable view, and responding to misconceptions in the literature, among other things. His new dataset is a great contribution to the field of contentious politics.
I disagree with some classifications like a lack of "partial victories," and some absolute assertions like that social revolution is over (contradicted by some important recent ones like the Rojava Revolution, and his own acknowledgement that the onset of new revolutionary waves take surprising turns, undulations, etc. and that inequality is an increasing concern).
That said, I think his methodologies are largely sound in justifying the proximity dilemma and urbanization in understanding revolutions, distinguishing empirical findings on urban civic revolutions from those of other revolutions, taking a probabalistic approach rather than either a deterministic or unpredictable view, and responding to misconceptions in the literature, among other things. His new dataset is a great contribution to the field of contentious politics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review