ABSTRACT
The international Communist movement illustrates the coupling of a revolutionary analysis with a revolutionary strategy. The strategy to achieve the world revolution (or system change) is made contingent upon the successful outcome of a series of national revolutions (or unit changes). The basic distinction between revolutionary and stable systems is predicated on the failure of international relations at a given period to adapt to important changes in their environment. This chapter attempts to depict the revolutionary situation that exists in contemporary world politics and to develop certain categories that seem crucial if people are to begin making an analysis of revolution as an attribute of international politics, as well as of national politics. Through the retention of nuclear weapons, their nonuse could be reliably developed and secured to ensure that minimum cordiality persisted. National revolutions are formally compatible with an interstate system of order.
