Revolutions in the Twenty-First Century.

Abstract

Review of ‘Handbook of Revolutions in the 21st Century: The New Waves of Revolutions, and the Causes and Effects of Disrup-tive Political Change’. Edited by Jack A. Goldstone, Leonid Grinin, and Andrey Korotayev. Springer, 2022. ISBN 978-3-030-86467-5.This is a big book in more ways than one. In its 41 chapters, readers will find much to keep them occupied. The volume’s range is vast, covering several hundred years of history and an equally expan-sive geography, offering grand theorising alongside granular analysis, and providing insights ranging from the descriptive to the predictive. Within this panorama, I would highlight four general themes that strike me as particularly significant: first, the book’s focus on waves; second, its insistence on the back-and-forth between history and theo-ry; third, its global frame of reference; and fourth, its attentiveness to non-progressive revolutionary currents, most notably religious revolutionary forces.