Colin J. Beck

My current project is a meta-analysis of five decades of comparative studies of revolution. I first examine the “how” of the field: how cases are selected and compared. I explore the “why” of the resulting demography by considering who produces knowledge about revolution and their connections to each other. I then consider the “what” of the field's true findings: which theories apply to which revolutions, and which causal factors have the most explanatory power across many cases. With thanks to Lisa Anne Auerbach for weaving my bookshelves.

• What Do We Really Know About (the Social Science of) Revolution? Networks of Scholars, Cases, and Theories, in progress

It is time to advance the next generation of revolution studies. We document the shift from "big R" Revolution to "small r" revolutions that target regimes, not states, and have goals for individuals, not societies. The book integrates insights from related fields into the study of revolution and challenges the dichotomies that bedevil revolution studies: social versus political revolutions; structure versus agency; violence versus nonviolence; domestic versus international factors; and success versus failure. We call for greater reflexivity about concepts, methods, and the ethical issues that lie at the intersection of revolutionary theory and practice.

• On Revolutions: Unruly Politics in the Contemporary World, Oxford University Press 2022, with Mlada Bukovansky, Erica Chenoweth, George Lawson, Sharon Erickson Nepstad, and Daniel P. Ritter

Social movements, revolutions, and terrorism share similar causes and processes. In my first book, I consider eight key questions for understanding radicalism. Ranging across the globe from the 1500s to the present, diverse cases are examined, e.g., 19th century anarchists, fascists, Che Guevara, the Weather Underground, Chechen insurgents, the Earth Liberation Front, Al-Qaeda, and the Arab Spring. Throughout, I demonstrate how to draw on multiple areas of research to better explain the forms movements take. The book is based on a seminar of the same name I have taught since 2010.

• Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Terrorists, Polity 2015

My primary area of expertise is revolutions. In my work on revolutionary waves, I find that cultural constructions of the transnational system strain regimes, fracture elites, and empower oppositions as well as make cross-national diffusion more likely. Articles published in Theory and Society and Social Science History have won awards from sections of the American Sociological Association.

• Thinking Beyond Generations: On the Future of Revolution Theory, Journal of Historical Sociology 2021, with Daniel P. Ritter
• Revolutions Against the State, The New Handbook of Political Sociology 2020
• The Structure of Comparison in the Study of Revolution, Sociological Theory 2018
• The Comparative Method in Practice: Case Selection and the Social Science of Revolution, Social Science History 2017
• Revolutions: Robust Findings, Persistent Problems, and Promising Frontiers, States and Peoples in Conflict 2017
• Reflections on the Revolutionary Wave in 2011, Theory and Society 2014
• The World-Cultural Origins of Revolutionary Waves, Social Science History 2011

Revolution's contemporary counterparts include radicalism, political violence, and terrorism. I use insights from sociology and social movement theory to explain different aspects of political violence. Currently, I am extending my research on terrorism designations to understand media labeling of militant groups.

• Repertoires of Terror: News Media Classification of Militant Groups, Socius 2021, with Eric W. Schoon
• Terrorism and Social Movements, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Social Movements 2018, with Eric W. Schoon
• Who Gets Designated a Terrorist and Why?, Social Forces 2013, with Emily Miner
• Ideology, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements 2013
• State Building as a Source of Islamic Political Organization, Sociological Forum 2009
• The Contribution of Social Movement Theory to Understanding Terrorism, Sociology Compass 2008
• On the Radical Cusp: Ecoterrorism in the United States, 1998-2005, Mobilization 2007

The international human rights regime is the mirror image of radicalism and political violence in the contemporary world. My research explores the dynamics of the international system and domestic politics. Kristen Shorette, John Meyer, Gili Drori, and I currently are investigating human rights in national constitutions.

• Constitutions in World Society: A New Measure of Human Rights, Constitution-Making and Transnational Legal Order 2019, with John W. Meyer, Ralph I. Hosoki, and Gili S. Drori
• World Influences on Human Rights Language in Constitutions, International Sociology 2012, with Gili S. Drori and John W. Meyer