Parker
Dec. 16 2016
Examining Klooster and Kraus
Wim Klooster and Richard Kraus in their respective works, Revolutions in the Atlantic World along with A Cultural Revolution: A Very Short History make the argument that for one to understand revolutions they must first have a firm understanding of many cultural, political and social ideas. They make these arguments by exploring the Haitian, French, American, Spanish American revolutions, as well as the chinese cultural revolution that took place under the lead of Mao Zedong and examine them using unique perspectives and relating them to the different ideas mentioned above rather than just going on a battle by battle timeline.
Klooster gives summaries of each of the four Atlantic …show more content…
The last argument offered is that R. R. Palmer's paradigm introduced in The Age of the Democratic Revolution is slightly inaccurate, "none of the revolutions aimed at creating a democratic society. The chief objective of revolutionary leaders was usually sovereignty, and the nature of postrevolutionary rule was usually authoritarian" (p. 165). Of the four revolutions discussed none were looking to enact a new democracy, and in fact politics after a revolution often were quite authoritarian. Any democratic actions taking place during revolutions were typically met by strong opposition in the form of coups, civil war and/or rebellions. Klooster closely examines the social outcomes of political choices while also emphasizing the role that international issues and war play in causing revolutions. He also shows great interest in how war lead to financial issues for the governments affected as well as diminished social privileges. Many groups during this time attached themselves to the Enlightenment ideas, which did not promote revolution nor were mandatory ideas for beginning a revolution. Klooster states that the most stable countries following the Spanish American revolution were Mexico and Peru, even though