Understanding why revolutions take place when they do, and as they do, is important in itself. Understanding how they are rooted in the societies they upend - and the ways in which those societies share crucial similarities - is arguably even more so.
The enduring influence of Jack Goldstone''s Revolution and Rebellion lies as much in the challenge that it issues to the long-dominant model of -western exceptionalism- (the idea that it was early modern Europe''s distinctive history that launched it on the path to world domination) as it does in the book''s persuasive account of revolutions rooted in a four stage process that advances from fiscal crisis, through inter-elite conflict and mass-mobilization potential, to the breakdown and re-making of culture and ideology.
It can be argued that this unexpected outcome - one that the author himself did not anticipate - is the product of an acute problem-solving ability, one that made Goldstone particularly receptive
