INTRODUCTION

Is the era of revolution over? Did it end in 1989? And was that such a long time ago, in any case? It doesn’t seem to be necessarily over in places like the West Bank and Gaza, Mexico (Chiapas), Algeria or Peru, and may be just around the corner in many other locations (Egypt? Zaire?). The discourse of revolution may be changing; the international loci and foci may be moving (with the demise of the Soviet Union and the consolidation of democracies in Latin America); the actors may be changing (with more women and ethnic minorities active; though, as this volume notes, both have long histories of revolutionary activism)—all of this may be (arguably) true. But revolutions are going to be with us to the end of history, and-pace Francis Fukiyama-that is not in sight.