Revolution and Social Movements: A New Narrative

Social movements and revolutions have been at the core of the politics and attracted many eyes and thoughts. While much ink has been spilled on the emergence, dynamics, and outcomes of these phenomena, there has been a theoretical void in the explanation of their major driving force(s). Such an unfortunate poverty is no more obvious than in an analysis of the recent movements in the Middle East, known also as the Arab Spring. From this perspective, the present study is an attempt to explain major forces shaping emergence, dynamics, and outcomes of social movements and revolutions. Therefore, the paper will accomplish this mission by combining new concepts of Collective Identity, Cultural Opportunity, Meaning Production, Ideology and Framing, Enemy Recognition with more mainstream ones of Political Opportunity, Mobilizing Networks, and Movement Strategy.