Review of Eric Selbin's "Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story"

Jay C Colburn II 4/13/2011GOVT 731 Selbin paper

Eric Selbin's Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story

Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story stands out from many of the most

influential studies of revolution that have come before it. The well-known comparative historical works

of Barrington Moore, Theda Skocpol, and other third generation scholars of revolution turn to structural

explanations for the origins and outcomes of revolutions, but Selbin instead takes a much more agency-

centered approach by analyzing the role of stories in revolutions. He attempts to answer many of the

same questions that scholars of revolution have been asking for generations, like "why revolutions

happen here and not there, now and not then, among these people and not those" (p. 3). As evident in

the title, Selbin explores cases of not only revolution but rebellion and resistance as well. These cases

are divided among four categories, four different stories of revolution which Selbin develops. Myth,

memory, and mimesis are the three fundamental aspects of stories that are used to connect

revolutionary stories from one place and time to another. Revolutions, rebellions, and resistance are

inspired and derived from ancient myths, like Greco-Roman revolutionary leaders, the memory of

legendary local events, and more recent revolutions and movements which resonate with certain parts

of society. Through stories and Selbin's societal and cultural focus, Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance

offers a unique perspective on the relationships between and the distinct individuality of the numerous

revolutionary cases under investigation.

The first few chapters of the book present background on the discussion, where Selbin justifies

his analytic framework and use of the four stories of revolution, identifies and explains the key concepts

to be used, and acknowledges both the benefits and drawbacks of his type of study. The differences

between revolutions, rebellions, and resistance are pointed out, but equally important is their

relationship and Selbin's explanation of how rebellion and resistance can at times lead to revolution;

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fine distinctions between the three, however, are difficult given their fluid and overlapping nature and

are thus absent. The concepts of myth, memory, and mimesis are also utilized to explain how stories

work across time and culture through stories. These central aspects of the framework are utilized for

their explanatory power for understanding revolutions through stories, and while descriptions are

provided, they are not defined in a very measurable way.

Comparing Selbin's approach with a focus on stories with other more traditional structural

explanations of revolutions demonstrates very well both sides of the agency-structure debate. By using

stories in his framework, Selbin is able to analyze different elements of revolution and even entirely

different eras of revolutions; his focus on individuals and communities allows for more societal and

cultural analysis but at the expense of using more measurable quantitative or qualitative factors of more

structural, often state-centered approaches. Selbin does not completely disregard such factors as

political, economic and social structures, ideology, and the international context, common explanatory

factors in many structural studies, but rather wants to highlight the role of agency by focusing on the

people and societies who make the revolutions. This idea, that individuals and communities and

cultures, through historical, mythical, and globally mimetic stories, actively influence the causes and

outcomes of revolutions, rebellions, and resistance, stands in direct contrast to Skocpol, who quotes

Wendell Phillips as "quite correct when he once declared: 'Revolutions are not made; they come'"

(Skocpol, p.17).

According to Selbin, revolutions are made, in large part by stories and through societies.

Approaching revolutions from such a perspective, with stories at the center, proves to be problematic in

certain ways, including methodologically. For instance, as noted above, some of the key elements of the

book, including the main conceptual focus, stories, are not defined. Selbin justifies this by stating that

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this work is not a traditional political science work; he claims that his work can be "most usefully

construed as a pre-theory: an exercise providing an orientation about the way the world works and

proffering raw materials for theorizing" (Selbin, p.27). Selbin does not need to adhere to such rigid and

systematic frameworks because he attempts a different type of analysis, one in which strict definitions

and easily measurable concepts are neither necessary nor useful. Some argue that perhaps such

complex social phenomenon as revolutions should not or cannot be fully understood by only examining

it using systematic, methodologically rigorous, and structural frameworks. Selbin demonstrates through

The Power of Stories how his analysis, by focusing on the role of stories in the development of different

types of revolutions and being intentionally vague in definitions, can allow the discussion to expand to

more places, times, and events. This book shows that using more agency-centered approaches, or at

least recognizing and including more social aspects into frameworks, can allow for new cases to be

examined, lead to new insights, and provide a more well-rounded understanding of revolutions and

their complex origins, processes, and outcomes.

Other problems with stories stem from the way in which Selbin approaches stories, through

their underlying myth, memory, and mimesis. Some of the difficulties mentioned with using such

concepts are matters of truth, transmission, and translation. As stories are passed across generational,

geographic, and cultural boundaries, distinctions between historical fact and fiction are not of primary

concern. Stories often change not just from one generation to the next, but from one person to

another; in the simple act of (re)telling a story, both the teller and the listener may have their own

interpretations. This is one of the unique and useful characteristics of using the idea of stories to explain

revolutions. Selbin notes this and reinforces the importance (and limits) of agency early on in the book

as he says that "what becomes of the story as it is heard and understood is beyond the control of the

storyteller" (Selbin, p.2). The revolutionary stories examined in Selbin's book are highly contextualized;

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they vary as stories are transmitted and translated across national and cultural lines; and these changes

can alter the focus of stories as certain aspects of them that resonate most within a given community

are emphasized and others minimized or altogether left out. Despite that stories can mean different

things to different people at different places and times and the issues of transmission and translation,

these same stories act as a collective memory between and sometimes across communities.

Revolutionary stories are "predicated on myth…shifted, shaped, and sustained by memory, and finally,

often consciously and intentionally emulative – that is, mimetic" (Selbin, p.49).

The true test of Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance and its story-centered approach comes in the

main empirical section. Chapters five through eight each detail a different story of revolution, including

the Story of Civilizing and Democratizing Revolutions, the Story of Social Revolutions, the Freedom and

Liberation Story of Revolution, and the Revolutions of the Lost and Forgotten. The oft-studied English

(1688), American (1776), and French (1789) revolutions are characterized as civilizing and democratizing

revolutions, although the American and French are used in other sections and the American is

questioned as even being considered a revolution. What is unique about Selbin's analysis of these

particular revolutions is his identification of their Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian origins. Selbin

traces back the Western conceptions of democracy and successful civilizations to the ancient Greeks and

Romans; the strength of Judaic and Christian stories and practices has also played key roles in the

establishment of Western political and social norms and values. In all of the revolutionary stories

investigated by Selbin, the influence that one revolution can have on another is emphasized; much

credit is given to the French Revolution in 1789 for being the direct inspiration for many different types

of revolutions, and the similarities between various other revolutions is often traced to memory and

mimicry. While each of the civilizing and democratizing revolutions differed from one another, Selbin

notes the simple connection between the three as "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," the famous slogan of

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the French revolution. He briefly connects these main revolutions in this story with some of the

constitutional revolutions of the early twentieth century as well as the events of 1989. The focus of the

story of civilizing and democratizing revolutions is clearly summarized as "the destruction of old and

outdated concept and institutions and structures of governance, and the construction of the appropriate

political…institutions to achieve the goals of liberalization and democratization" (Selbin, p.114).

The second story, the Story of Social Revolutions, also known as the Great Revolutions, contains

cases which have also commonly been studied by scholars especially throughout the twentieth century.

The cases of France (1789, again), Russia (1917), and Cuba (1959) are the revolutions inspected; China

(1949) is the obvious one missing, but it is mentioned briefly along with other more minor cases like

Nicaragua and Iran. The inclusion of the same cases in multiple categories would initially raise the

question of the usefulness of distinct categories if cases can be sorted into multiple categories.

However, the dynamic nature of Selbin's theoretical approach allows different aspects of a revolutionary

story to be emphasized. France in 1789 represents not just an example of new political and democratic

structures and institutions, but the story of social revolution highlights the fundamental not only

political but economic and social changes as well. Towns and roads were renamed and interpersonal

relationships became less formal, for example using the word citoyen (citizen) instead of monsier and

the tu (informal) as opposed to vous part of speech; the separation of church and state and the

movement away from religious and royal leaders were other significant socio-political changes. The

Russian revolution also brought about similarly drastic changes to society, in addition to the

implementation of progressive programs like public education and social welfare provision. One glaring

hole in Selbin's discussion of social revolutions is why certain aspects of a revolutionary story end; for

example, Selbin is not able to explain using stories the reversal of the French revolution and the

ascension of Napoleon, nor why the Russian revolution resulted in the imperial and oppressive USSR.

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While the story approach lacks in this particular respect, as many other approaches do, each case has a

distinct legacy: the French in 1789 introduced the modern concept of revolution, the Russian case of

1917 demonstrates the importance of revolutionary processes, and the case of Cuba brought revolution

global. The small band of Cuban revolutionaries that were successfully able to defeat the great US

superpower (according to their story) has been a model showing the plausibility and possibility for

countless other movements around the world that successful was possible.

As his analysis of types of revolutionary stories continues, the structure of Selbin's argument

weakens. The Freedom and Liberation Story of Revolution includes a variety of different types of

revolutions and cases, including slave revolts and rebellions, anti-colonial movements, and anti-imperial

wars of national liberation. This combination of cases may seem too broad to be analytically effective,

but Selbin only uses two main cases, Haiti in 1791 and Mexico from 1910-1920 and skims over (mostly in

name only) a large number of other freedom and liberation revolutions. These stories of revolution are

again traced back to ancient times, referencing the Book of Exodus from the Judeo-Christian tradition as

well as the great slave revolt leader, Sparatacus. The myths of historical freedom and liberation

revolutionary stories, whether local or global, combined with societal and cultural memories and

situations, such as slavery or colonialism, and the mimicry of previous revolutions together produce the

broad category of freedom and liberation revolutionary stories. While these similarities may be drawn

between cases of freedom and liberation stories, it is especially in the ability of their stories to inspire

other revolutionaries that their importance lies. Selbin's case descriptions are useful in highlighting

these points, his approach would have more explanatory power if it could differentiate the extent to

which each factor contributes to the revolutionary movement or at least if most important factor based

on his model was explicitly stated.

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The final stories of revolution, those of the Lost and Forgotten, seem to be the ones whose

placement into Selbin's analysis are most awkward. The cases he explores, including the 1871 Paris

Commune, a portion of the Mexican revolution (Mexico City's 1912-1916 so-called proletarian

revolution), and the Green Corn Rebellion in 1917 Oklahoma, are all cases most appropriately labeled as

rebellion or resistance. Indeed any number of near-revolutions could be used in this section, especially

given that revolutionary attempts are much more prevalent, and thus easily forgotten, than successful

revolutions. Though he claims this revolutionary story is not a grab-bag category for any revolutions

that do not fit his other categories, the lack of structure, either chronological, sequential, or among

revolutionary goals among cases, counteracts that claim. Selbin indeed chooses interesting cases to

investigate, but the expected explanation of why these cases did not result in successful revolutions was

nowhere to be found. If revolutions are claimed to be at the heart of revolutions, is it that certain

aspects of stories are missing from those failed revolutions? This again reiterates the weakness of

Selbin's methodology and the use of stories; while stories may be able to expose new information on

the role of society and culture in revolutions, clearly absent is their ability to explain cases of non-

revolution or attempted and failed revolutions. Such an analysis would perhaps be more explanatory if

it included more structural elements; more focused and clearly defined case studies would also prove

beneficial, in addition to linking stories to more traditionally considered factors like nationalism or

religious ideologies. The use of stories by revolutionary leaders could also be compared to concepts like

resource mobilization and framing; perhaps a connection with such existing, utilized, and accepted

theoretical frameworks would lend to a more well-rounded approach.

Many things about Eric Selbin's book Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story make

this an interesting and influential book. The unique approach he takes in studying revolutions highlights

the need for other political science works on revolution to include more agency- or society-structured

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factors to their analyses. Selbin digs deeper into history, to Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian stories of

revolution and democracy, as inspiration for more recent revolutionary episodes. He bases his analysis

of stories in myth, memory, and mimesis, as revolutionary movements and events are the result of

complex and at times understated but instrumental factors such as these. Selbin's book does not read

like a traditional political science work on revolution in other ways as well; the language he employs is

very passionate and emotive and his use of alliteration and other literary devices gives the text a rather

oratorical flow. While this stylistic difference may be the first noticeable difference in Selbin's analysis of

revolution, rebellion, and resistance, it is by no means the most important. The most profound message

that comes across in Revolution, Rebellion, and Resistance is the need for a combination of both agency

and structural approaches in order to gain a truly broad and encompassing understanding of

revolutions.

Bibliography

Selbin, Eric. 2010. Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story. New York: Zed Books Ltd.

Skocpol, Theda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia & China. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Documents

Review of Eric Selbin's "Revolution, Rebellion, Resistance: The Power of Story"