Deck 12: Revolutions and Contention

Question 1

Where did the "Arab Spring" begin?

A) Syria
B) Tunisia
C) Egypt
D) Libya

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Social revolutions, insurgencies, and terrorism are forms of what?

A) Contention
B) Causation
C) Coercion
D) Communism

Answer 2

A

Question 3

) Which of the following might be an example of an "everyday form of resistance"?

A) Terrorism
B) Insurgency
C) Letter-writing campaign
D) Work slowdown

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is the strongest example of a social movement?

A) A flash mob organized via social media
B) A quiet riot in response to government decisions about taxes
C) An anarchists' revolt with no clear leader
D) A set of pro-life or anti-abortion organizations organizing over time

Question 5

Where do social movements occur?

A) In the space created by civil society
B) In the space created by democracy
C) Within formal institutions
D) During revolutions

Question 6

The spread of information about protests in Iran in 2009-2010 is a use of _________ in order to organize a social movement.

A) Civil society
B) Formal institutions
C) Social media
D) None of the above

Question 7

The Occupy Movement could be considered what kind of social movement?

A) Transparent
B) Transitive
C) Transitional
D) Transnational

Question 8

The Landless Workers Movement has had success as a contentious appeal for equality in which Latin American country?

A) Argentina
B) Brazil
C) Colombia
D) Dominican Republic

Question 9

What does the "iron law of oligarchy" suggest about social movements?

A) Oligarchic social movements have the highest success rate
B) Social movements always start against the oligarchy
C) Collective action always produces new elites
D) Existing elites always block collective action

Question 10

What would be an example of mobilization?

A) Personal boycott
B) Organized strike
C) Writing a letter
D) All of the above

Question 11

The Montgomery Bus Boycott during the American Civil Rights Movement is an example of what?

A) Grassroots activism
B) Passive activism
C) Top-down organizing
D) Oligarchic demonstration

Question 12

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was what kind of revolution?

A) Alternative revolution
B) Third World Revolution
C) Political revolution
D) Social revolution

Question 13

Which country was, according to some, home to the "first modern revolution"?

A) France
B) Iran
C) Tunisia
D) Mexico

Question 14

The use of force or threat of force, typically by the military, to impose a non-electoral change in government is called what?

A) Coup d'état
B) Blitzkrieg
C) Insurgency
D) Feng shui

Question 15

Why do some scholars believe that "Third World Revolutions" should be a unique category?

A) Third World Revolutions only take place between former colonizers and their former colonies.
B) Third World Revolutions have violent conflict.
C) Third World Revolutions deal with complex inequalities rooted in the international system.
D) They do not believe that.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is untrue?

A) Insurgencies can become revolutions.
B) Insurgencies do not involve military action.
C) Insurgencies are led by non-state actors.
D) Insurgencies can sometimes look like or ally with social movements.

Question 17

Relatively "broad definitions" of terrorism hold which of the following to be true?

A) Terrorism can be perpetrated by states.
B) Terrorism includes attacks on uniformed or military personnel.
C) Terrorism can have multiple goals and aims beyond instilling fear for political purposes.
D) All of the above

Question 18

According to the text, why is "everyday resistance" used when social movements exist as forms of contention?

A) Certain groups and cultures are by nature incapable of coordination and mobilization.
B) There may be barriers to participation in or coordination of social movement activity.
C) Some individuals refuse to participate in formal structures due to plain stubbornness.
D) All of the above

Question 19

What does the strain theory of contention suggest?

A) Major social change causes social "strain" that decreases unification in civil society.
B) Major social change causes social "strain" that increases the likelihood of violent crackdowns.
C) Major social change causes social disequilibrium that increases demand for revolution.
D) Major social change causes social "strain" that decreases opportunity for revolution.

Question 20

Which scholar(s) have argued that "ascending or inspiring groups and rigid or inflexible institutions are the stuff of which revolutions are made"?

A) Samuel Huntington
B) Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
C) Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar
D) Steven Levitsky

Question 21

What was the most important way in which the Chinese Revolution differed from the Russian Revolution?

A) The extent and nature of the peasantry's role
B) Decade
C) Geographical attributes
D) Language

Question 22

Which scholar defends the "structuralist" theory of revolutions in which social structures make the biggest impact on revolutions?

A) Mark Sageman
B) Mark Lichbach
C) Neil Smelser
D) Theda Skocpol

Question 23

The "free rider" concept helps to explain what about revolutions?

A) It is rational to participate in the revolution because it betters the revolution's chances for success.
B) It is not rational to participate in the revolutions lead to a mob mentality.
C) It is rational to not participate in the revolution because you are not at risk, but can still reap the benefits of success.
D) It is rational to participate in the revolution because revolutions are necessary for democracy.

Question 24

Which country defied the idea that most revolutions are "left wing"?

A) Syria
B) Iran
C) Afghanistan
D) Tunisia

Question 25

Which of the following would likely increase the likelihood of successful contention?

A) Unified organizational leadership
B) New methods of communication
C) Pre-existing grievances in the citizenry
D) All of the above

Question 26

The efforts by organized groups and individuals in the 1960s in support of civil rights would be considered an example of what kind of contention?

A) Terrorism
B) Insurgency
C) Social Revolution
D) Social Movement

Question 27

Which of the following would be an example of "everyday resistance"?

A) Workers violating rules and engaging in "slowdowns"
B) An organized effort to seize control of the state
C) Forming a political party and attempting to take power
D) Systematic efforts to terrorize a population through violence

Question 28

Which of the following acts might, by some definitions, be considered examples of terrorism?

A) A state's use of extraordinary violence against a population it aims to keep outside of politics
B) A militant group's bombing of civilians to influence them to change the policies of their state
C) Neither (a) nor (b)
D) Both (a) and (b)

Question 29

Which of the following scholars argues that modernization causes disturbances that can provoke revolutions?

A) John Foran
B) Donald Black
C) Samuel Huntington and Ted Gurr
D) The Marques de Pombal

Question 30

Which of the following scholars argues that state breakdown and peasant mobilization are the key features of social revolutions?

A) Misagh Parsa
B) Said Arjomand
C) Samuel Huntington
D) Theda Skocpol

Question 31

Which of the following scholars is most associated with the idea of "third world revolutions" or "anti-colonial revolutions"?

A) Henry Kissinger
B) John Foran
C) Nate Silver
D) Neil Smelser

Question 32

Saudi Arabia is important as a "deviant case" because:

A) It is a religious regime in the Middle East that has not experienced economic discontent and contention or revolution.
B) It helps comparativists to understand the importance of individual factors relevant to explaining the Arab Spring.
C) The case is critical to hypotheses suggested by framing and relative deprivation theories.
D) All of the above

Question 33

Why might some scholars consider the Latin American wars of independence to be revolutions, and others consider them civil wars?

Question 34

What is the basic difference between a social revolution and a political revolution?

Question 35

What is the main difference between a revolution and a social movement?

Question 36

What is the main difference between a social movement and a political party?

Question 37

What are the major points of disagreement among scholars about how to define terrorism?

Question 38

What do resource mobilization, political opportunities, and rational choice theories of contention have in common?

Question 39

What do disequilibrium theories and cultural theories of revolution have in common?

Question 40

How are resource mobilization theories of contention different from rational choice theories of contention?

Question 41

How are disequilibrium theories of revolution and cultural theories different?

Question 42

What is the major difference between "supply side" and "demand side" theories of revolution?

Question 43

Can a revolution use social movement tactics and remain a revolution?

Question 44

Can a social movement use terrorist tactics and remain a social movement?

Question 45

Analyze the American Revolution against the background of the four major theories considered in this chapter. Which theory or theories can best account for the historical sequence witnessed at the birth of the United States? Explain your answer carefully and be sure to provide evidence in support of your claims.

Question 46

Is the American Civil Rights Movement (or, in contrast, the Feminist Movement) an example of a revolution or a social movement? How do you justify your answer? What constitutes the most important difference between revolutions and social movements as revealed by this example?

Question 47

Consider the major theories of terrorism discussed in this chapter. Which do you find most intuitively plausible. Explicate this definition and compare it to the alternatives and justify your choice.

Question 48

Huntington and Gurr, Skocpol, and Lichbach all developed theories of why people rebel. Because individual theories don't explain the entire world of events, each suffers criticism for what it doesn't explain. One is too broad, one is too mechanistic, one is too focused on rational self-interest. Choosing either the Russian or Chinese Revolution, apply one of these three theories and explain why you think it's the best theory to use and why the other two are inadequate.