Revolutions and

Counterrevolutions: LEVELS OF
A N A LY S I S
Regimes and States
05/14/2024

Before discussing
revolution and WHAT IS A REGIME?
counterrevolution we
need to understand the
units of political actors WHAT IS A STATE?
we’re discussing

SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

2
State vs Regime
S TAT E
• A state is the constellation of formal public
institutions officially tasked with governing and
managing public affairs.
• A state exercises formal ownership over public
assets aka state assets
• A state offers a regime a source of legitimacy and
domestic rents as well as access to international
rents.
REGIME
• A regime is the coalition of powers that control a
country, inclusive of its state.
• A regime is not bounded by the state nor does
its perceived interests necessarily coincide with
those of the state nor the public at large.
• A Regime can sabotage state interests to
advance its own.
05/14/2024

Counterrevolution and Revolution

• Revolution and counterrevolution are contemporaneous

processes, but counterrevolution is also a preemptive
continuous process in anticipation of revolutionary threats
that can soften or intensify depending on a regime’s
perception of threats of revolution.
• Counterrevolution prioritizes regime security over state
security.
• Protecting the regime at the expense of the state can call
for strategies that sabotage state and public interest to
advance the regime’s interests
4
05/14/2024

• Counterrevolutionary Securitization
Categories of • Counterrevolutionary Violence
Counterrevolutionary
• Counterrevolutionary Foreign Policy
Practices
• Counterrevolutionary Capital

SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

5
Counterrevolutionary
Securitization
• To protect regimes fearing the threat of revolution, regime
actors may securitize various peaceful practices to repress and
weaken potential challengers and threats to their power before
they’re able to launch a revolt.
• They may restrict public gatherings, the right to form a civil
society group, the ability to fundraise, the right to publish
unauthorized news, the right to run for office, the right to buy
or transfer property, and the right to protest.
• They may harass activists and opposition figures through
arrests, travel bans, asset freezes, blocking their employment,
threatening or intimidating their families.

6
Counterrevolutionary Violence

• Counterrevolutionary measures can often turn

violent. Protests are often violently repressed
to both punish dissidents and deter others
from joining them.
• Political prisoners are often subjected to
torture and some are executed or die in
custody, either from torture or lack of access
to medical care or proper hygiene.
 “USING ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIERS (APCS),
Violence as a Spectacle:
BULLDOZERS, GROUND FORCES, AND SNIPERS, POLICE
A N D A R M Y P E R S O N N E L AT TA C K E D T H E M A K E S H I F T

Rabaa P R O T E S T E N C A M P M E N T, W H E R E D E M O N S T R AT O R S ,
INCLUDING WOMEN AND CHILDREN, HAD BEEN
C A M P E D O U T F O R O V E R 4 5 D AY S , A N D O P E N E D F I R E
O N T H E P R O T E S T E R S , K I L L I N G AT L E A S T 8 1 7 A N D
L I K E LY M O R E T H A N 1 , 0 0 0 . ” ( H RW, 2 0 1 4 )

8
Counterrevolutionary Foreign Policy

- R e g im es m a y also b a c k o th e r
c o u n te r r ev o lu tio n ar y r e g im e s to q u a s h
e x a m p les o f su c cess f u l r e v o lu tio n s . T h is is
e s p e c ia lly th e cas e if th e r e ’s f e a r th a t a n e w
r e v o lu tio n ar y g o v er n m e n t c o u ld s u p p o r t
o th e r r ev o lu tio n s th a t w o u ld th r e a te n th e
r e g im e , eith er a t h o m e o r a m o n g n e ig h b o r s .
- D e f e n s iv e str u ctu r a l r e a lis ts a rg u e p o w e r s
p r o te c t th e s ta tu s q u o . Wo u ld th a t in c lu d e
c o u n te r r ev o lu tio n ?

9
”Revolutionaries” Back
Counterrevolutions and vice
versa
• Revolution and counterrevolution is part of a broader
competition for power with counterrevolutionary powers
backing revolts against rivals and revolutionary powers
aiding counterrevolutions to protect allies.
• Assistance can take the forms of diplomatic, financial and
military support. Often all three are used.

SAMPLE FOOTER TEXT

10
Political relationships can get complicated…
Counterrevolutionary Capital
• Capital is another medium of power in political competition and control over capital as well as its distribution is a
source of power for political actors. A competition over power will include competition over capital and
competition for capital will not only take place in a political context but the nature of that competition will reflect
other forms of political competition (Nitzan & Bichler, 2009)
• Regimes often open business opportunities to their allies and base of supporters while erecting barriers to entry for
potential challengers and competitors. This can be done through preferential access to credit, often through state
owned banks. Regulations can be imposed that protect monopolies, cartels and oligopolies.
• Independent accumulation of capital by rivals can be used to challenge the dominance of the regime. It also can be
used by different centers of power within a regime as they compete for dominance over one another.
• Capital also features in counterrevolutionary foreign policy where external backers of counterrevolutions can inject
large amounts of capital to stabilize counterrevolutionary regimes as they seek to consolidate power or quell unrest.
Power Competition: Absolute vs Relative
Accumulation
• In neo-classical economics it is often assumed individuals are rational actors seeking to maximize their
material resources and material interests: absolute accumulation.
• In politics, I would argue, the pursuit of power is less linear
• Would you prefer have 100 tanks while your rival has 90 or would you prefer have 50 while your
rival has 10?
• Relative accumulation may better explain power dynamics. Less tanks in absolute terms but far more
in relative terms results in more power.
05/14/2024

“ACCORDING TO THE
THEORY OF CAPITAL
AS POWER,
CAPITALISM, LIKE
ANY OTHER MODE OF
POWER, IS BORN
THROUGH SABOTAGE
AND LIVES IN
CHAINS…” (NITZAN &
BICHLER, 2020)

14
05/14/2024

How Does this Shape US-Gulf Relations?

15