Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age - Paperback

by Colin Barker (Editor), Gareth Dale (Editor), Neil Davidson (Editor)

This ambitious volume examines revolutionary situations during a non-revolutionary historical conjuncture--the neoliberal era. The last three decades have seen an increase in the number of political upheavals that challenge existing power structures, many of them taking the form of urban revolts. This book compellingly explores a series of such upheavals--in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa (including Congo, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso) and Egypt. Each chapter studies the ways in which protest movements developed into insurgent challenges to state power, and the strategies that regimes have deployed to contain and repress revolt.

In addition to empirical chapters, the book engages in theorization of revolution, dealing with questions such as the patterning of revolution in contemporary history, the relationship between class struggle and social movements, and the prospects of socialist revolution in the twenty-first century.

Author Biography

Colin Barker (1939-2019) taught sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He authored or edited several books, including Revolutionary Rehearsals.

Gareth Dale teaches politics at Brunel University. He has published books on Karl Polanyi, East Germany, and green growth.

Neil Davidson (1957-2020) taught sociology at Glasgow University. He authored many books on Scottish history and Marxist theory.