‘The revolutions of 1989’ remains the standard term used to describe the onset of post-communist transformations more than thirty years ago. Zenonas Norkus proposes a completely new perspective, theorising them as the next wave of modern social restorations, starting with the post-Napoleonic restorations in 1815. A comparison of the 1789 French and 1917 Russian revolutions was seminal for the rise of comparative historical and sociological research on modern revolutions. The book extends and supplements the sociology of modern revolutions by the first systematic outline of the sociology of modern social restorations grounded in a comparison of post-Napoleonic and post-communist restorations.
Zenonas Norkus, Ph.D. (1984), Saint-Petersburg University (Russian Federation), is a Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology at Vilnius University, Lithuania. His book publications include Max Weber and Rational Choice (2001), On Baltic Slovenia and Adriatic Lithuania (2012), An Unproclaimed Empire: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (2018).
AcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsIntroduction1 Theorising Modern Social Restorations: Received Work1.1 Reworking Seminal Contributions: Robert A. Kann and Rein Taagepera1.2 Redemocratisations of Authoritarian States, Reconstitutions of Failed States and the Rights of Extinct States to Restoration1.3 Conceptualising Restorations: Cultural and Environmental Heritage Protection as Reference Sites2 The Rise and Collapse of Post-Revolutionary Empires: Great Modern Revolutions in Comparison2.1 The Failure of World Revolutions and the Rise of Great Post-Revolutionary Empires: the French and Russian Revolutions in Comparison2.2 The Defeat and Fall of Great Post-Revolutionary (Napoleonic and Soviet) Empires in Comparison2.3 Post-Napoleonic Restoration and Post-Communist Rehabilitation of the International Order in Comparison3 Post-Napoleonic and Post-Communist Domestic Restorations and Rehabilitations in Comparison3.1 Dilemmas of Post-Napoleonic and Post-Communist Domestic Restorations in Comparison3.2 Endurance Failures of (Most) Post-Napoleonic Restorations3.3 Post-Communist Rehabilitations and Restorations on the Endurance Success Track4 Do Progressive Social Restorations Exist?4.1 Did the Post-Napoleonic Restorations Bring Economic, Health and Somatic Progress?4.2 Are Post-Socialist Capitalist Rehabilitations and Restorations Economically Progressive?4.3 Are Post-Socialist Capitalist Rehabilitations and Restorations Health Progressive?4.4 Are Post-Socialist Capitalist Rehabilitations and Restorations Somatically Progressive?ConclusionReferencesIndex