ABSTRACT
Theda Skocpol's States and Social Revolution: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China was the most significant text of the twentieth century analyzing the phenomenon of revolution. She argued that several underlying conditions come together to produce revolutionary situations. Skocpol uses the comparative method to isolate the underlying factors that lead to those outcomes; this depends on the process of induction, or logical inference. She credits the groundbreaking nature of her work in States and Social Revolutions to the influence of taking a seminar under the political scientist Barrington Moore. Two international phenomena meant the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions were appropriate objects of study: decolonization and the Cold War. The politics of the century held "revolution" to be among the most important events. One of the best examples of these phenomena working together was the Vietnam War. After the French left their former colony of Indochine in Southeast Asia, the Soviet-supported communist Viet Cong challenged its oppressive government.
