Revolution and Institutional Change: an introduction to the special issue

Abstract

This special issue reflects one of the first systematic inquiries into the effects of revolutions on institutional change, a topic previously explored only tangentially across diverse social science domains. It fosters interdisciplinary discourse on revolutionary outcomes among economists, political scientists, sociologists, and economic historians informed by the public choice research program. The issue is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses on regime overthrow and institutional transformation and the second of which focuses on rational-choice theoretic analyses of revolution and its results. By employing analytical narratives and comparative analyses of contemporary and historical revolutions, the issue advances both theoretical and empirical understandings of revolution, revolutionary dynamics, and their implications.