New Book Review, "The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022" in the Journal of Pacifism and Nonviolence
Mark Beissinger is a political scientist whose work has significantly contributed to the understanding of protest and revolution, particularly within the context of post-Soviet states on topics that span across nationalism, state-building, and revolution (Beissinger 2002; 2007; 2009). Beissinger’s recent book, The Revolutionary City: Urbanization and the Global Transformation of Rebellion, makes another substantial contribution to interdisciplinary knowledge on protest and mass-scale social change. This near 600-page work offers a wide-ranging exploration of the evolving nature of revolutions in the context of global urbanization. Key to Beissinger’s inquiry is a distinction between social revolutions and civic urban repertoires. The former were revolutions that arose largely in the 19th and early 20th centuries and were aimed at overthrowing monarchs or gaining independence.