The Testing of Chalmers Johnson's Theory with the Revolutions of the Islamic World

Abstract The testing of the theories presented about the causes of the formation of revolutions is one of the important and relevant issues in the field of research on political sociology. One of the theories about the phenomenon of revolution is the theory of the revolutionary transformation of Chalmers Johnson. The question is that how much Johnson's theory is compatible with the revolutions that took place in the world and to what extent this theory is capable of explaining the causes of the occurrence of these revolutions. In this study, three Iranian, Egyptian and Libyan revolutions in the Islamic world has been investigated. The present paper seeks to test Johnson's theory of revolutionary transformations in the three countries. According to this study, it can be concluded that from the three factors mentioned by Johnson, two factors, including inequality and accelerating factors, are partially applicable to these revolutions, But the elites rigidity factor, with the exception of the Libyan revolution, is not compatible with the other two revolutions, and therefore Johnson's theory does not have the power to explain these revolutions.