New Evidence on the Social Composition of Political Uprisings

• In Event: Contentious Politics: Elections, Social Movements, and Violence

Abstract

The nature of revolutionary movements is one of the defining questions in political science. While theories abound, we lack a firm empirical grip on how revolutionary movements are composed, how this composition changes, and to what extent socioeconomic and political developments drive this change. This paper presents a new global database on the incidence, scope, claims and social composition of revolutionary movements, 1789-2020. We investigate the socioeconomic composition of these movements, and chart the rise and fall of different ``archetypical" movements in different historical eras. We show how the rise and fall of different types of movements is associated with major historical trends, focusing on income growth, education, industrialization and democratization and the rise of mass-based electoral politics.

Authors

• Hanne Fjelde, Uppsala University

• Carl Henrik Knutsen, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo

• Nils W. Metternich, University College London

• Tore Wig, University of Oslo