Pour Une Sociologie Des Situations Revolutionnaires: Retour Sur Les Revoltes Arabes

In: Revue française de science politique, Volume 62, Issue 5-6, p. 767-796

Abstract

In this paper, departing from a non causalist epistemology, we focus our attention on the Study of revolutionary situations, instead of background conditions or revolutionary outcomes which, as a literature review on the 'Arab uprisings' shows, have received the lion's share of research in the field, Furthermore we argue that one should move away from describing the recurrent properties of revolutionary situations to study the sequences of action -- here defined as complex chains of interaction -- which contribute to produce these situations. Based on a comparison of various cases in the MENA region, we identify a series of relational and cognitive processes which can able us to better understand how revolutionary situations are produced and develop. Adapted from the source document.