Radu-Alexandru Cucută 1107 THEORIES OF REVOLUTION: THE GENERATIONAL DEADLOCK RADU-ALEXANDRU CUCUTĂ * Abstract The paper attempts to highlight the main characteristics and the main flaws of the most important classification of theories of revolution, the generational approach. The first half aims to discuss and present the main tenets of the most important taxonomy of theories of revolution, as well as the similar attempts made by several scholars to build alternative classifications of theories of revolution. The second part of the paper attempts to show the limits of the aforementioned perspective and the importance of looking for alternative approaches to the study of revolutions. The paper considers that the generational perspective remains impermissibly flexible and elusive, ignoring the main paradigmatic debates within the field of study and maintaining a strong bias in favor of the clearest category, that of structural theories. Key words: revolution, theories of revolution, structural theories of revolution, generational classification. Introduction The most important element that requires discussion is the relevance of classifications in the study of revolutions. I believe classifications are important for several reasons. On the one hand, they are important in mapping out the theoretical space pertaining to revolutions. On the other hand, the limits of classifications can become very well limits of theories of revolution. Moreover, classifications are relevant not only for the specific conceptual content of the theories themselves, but also in regard to the major paradigms of social science that influence the particular field, as well as for the very important relationship between the studied phenomenon and the theoretical framework encompassing it. Last, but not least, classifications are important in order to define the major theoretical debates that shape the study of revolutions. The generational classification can be considered probably the most important effort dedicated to charting out the theoretical endeavors regarding revolutions 1 . The generational perspective, developed by Jack Goldstone and reaffirmed successively by John Foran divides the space of theories of revolutions into three clear generations of theories and a post-third generational perspective. The most important aspect of the generational perspective is that the classification is not purely chronological. Of course, the concept of a generation of theories is supposed not only to illustrate the apparition of successive perspectives on the revolutionary phenomenon, but also the important paradigmatic debates which are supposed to have taken place and to have influenced the study of revolutions. Moreover, the time-frame that encapsulates theories of revolution makes it easier to accommodate the influence that new events have on theoretical models and endeavors, thus showing for example how Third-World dynamics shaped and influenced theories of revolution which up to that point had been dedicated mostly to successful major social revolutions. * PhD in Political Studies - SNSPA; Associated Academic of SNSPA and the University of Pitesti (raducucuta@gmail.com). 1 For an outline of the generational perspective on theories of revolution see Jack A. Goldstone, “The Comparative and Historical Study of Revolutions”, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 8 (1982), as well as his more developped perspective, „The Comparative and Historical Study of Revolutions” in Revolutions. Theoretical, comparative and Historical Studies, (Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2008), Jack. A. Goldstone, “Toward a Fourth Generation of Revolutionary Theory”, Annual Review of Political Science, 4 (2001), and John Foran, “Theories of Revolution Revisited. Toward a Fourth Generation?”, Sociological Theory, Vol. 11, 1 (Mar. 1993).