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Please join the Comparative Politics Workshop as they host Killian Clarke, Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. 

Why are some revolutions reversed by counterrevolutions, whereas others go on to establish durable rule?

This book explains why counterrevolutions both emerge and succeed, marshalling original data on counterrevolutions worldwide since 1900. It also offers a fresh perspective and new evidence on the reversal of Egypt’s 2011 revolution, one of the most prominent recent episodes of counterrevolution. The book forwards a movement-centric argument that emphasizes the strategies revolutionary leaders embrace, both during their opposition campaigns and after they seize power. Movements that wage violent resistance and espouse radical ideologies establish regimes that are very difficult to overthrow. By contrast, democratic revolutions like Egypt’s are much more vulnerable – though the book also identifies a path by which they too can avoid counterrevolution. By preserving their elite coalitions and broad popular support, these movements can return to mass mobilization to thwart counterrevolutionary threats. In an era of resurgent authoritarianism worldwide, Return of Tyranny sheds light on one particularly violent form of reactionary politics. Killian Clarke is a political scientist who studies how everyday people can transform the worlds in which they live. Much of his work focuses on revolutions — or movements seeking to overthrow an established regime and found a new political order. He examines why revolutionary movements break out, why some struggle and why some succeed, and why some are able to establish lasting change. He also studies an array of related political phenomenon like unarmed protest, armed rebellion, authoritarianism, and democratization. Much of his research is grounded in the Middle East and North Africa, and at Georgetown he is affiliated with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.

Killian Clarke is a political scientist who studies how everyday people can transform the worlds in which they live. Much of his work focuses on revolutions — or movements seeking to overthrow an established regime and found a new political order. He examines why revolutionary movements break out, why some struggle and why some succeed, and why some are able to establish lasting change. He also studies an array of related political phenomenon like unarmed protest, armed rebellion, authoritarianism, and democratization. Much of his research is grounded in the Middle East and North Africa, and at Georgetown he is affiliated with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.