ABSTRACT
The modern conception of revolution was formed in France, and the political relationship between rulers and ruled has never been the same since. The opportunities for revolutionary mobilization vary widely, depending on where grievances are concentrated and which aggrieved groups are most accessible to the potential revolutionary leaders. In the classic revolutions envisioned by Marxists, economic class is the only conceivable basis for mobilization, though the possibility of cross-class coalitions is granted. The specific interactions among state crisis, elite alienation, and mass mobilization affect the timing and character of state breakdown. They also help shape the subsequent process of coalition building and constrain in many ways the outcomes of a revolution. Prodemocratic revolutionary coalitions are subject to stress and breakdown like any others. The ongoing revolutionary struggles in South Africa, in the Philippines, and by the Palestinians can be characterized in terms of coalitional politics within the revolutionary leadership.
